Restorative Justice

The Victim Offender Mediation Association, is a program offered in 30 states,and 7 countries,designed for victims and offenders to meet face to face with a trained mediator.(Heffelbower, 2009)During this mediation both victim and offender are given the opportunity to discuss the crime,and their feeling about the crime.They also discuss the effects the crime has had on their lives.
Both victim and offender benefit from the mediation. The victim now has answers about the crime and the person who committed the crime.During the mediation the offender has the opportunity to take responsibility for what they have done,and learn the impact it has had on the victims life.The offender takes an active role to make things right by either serving some form of community service,or apologizing to the victim.

Research does show that offenders who participate in the mediation are treated more fairly than those who did not.They also have a higher rate of restitution completion than those who did not participate. While victims who participate in the mediation receive more restitution than others and feel safer and less fearful in comparison to others. CC&LB

Heffelbower, Duane. (2009, June 7). Victim offender mediation association. Retrieved from http://voma.org/index.html