The impact of victim-offender mediation: Two decades of research

Source: (2001) Federal Probation: A Journal of Correctional Philosophy and Practice (December): 29-35.

Umbreit, Coates, and Vos note that victim-offender mediation – the oldest and most widely used expression of restorative justice, in their judgment – has at times attracted more zeal than substance. Nevertheless, there have been many attempts to empirically evaluate and assess victim-offender mediation programs in the last two decades. In this article, the authors review thirty eight evaluation reports from empirical studies designed to assess the growth, implementation, and impact of victim-offender mediation programs in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and New Zealand. They also consider the effects of victim-offender mediation over the past twenty years with respect to client satisfaction, client perception of fairness, restitution, diversion, recidivism, costs, and crimes of violence.