Victim Offender Mediation & Dialogue: Guidelines for Victim Sensitive Practice

Source: (2000) Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime.

As the field of victim offender mediation has grown extensively over the past 25 years, it has become increasingly important to conduct the process in a highly victim sensitive manner. In this paper, a basic description of victim offender mediation is provided, along with key characteristics. This is followed by sections on the following: the national survey of programs; core principles of victim offender mediation; and core skills, including humanistic “dialogue drivenâ€? mediation, specific

guidelines for victim sensitive mediation practice, and implications for working with diverse cultures. This paper builds on a number of earlier documents produced by Mark Umbreit and colleagues at the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (many published by the Office for Victims of Crime), including “Guidelines for Victim Sensitive Victim Offender Mediationâ€? (1997).