Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

offenders. Specifically, extant investigations have

focused on individual participants’ satisfaction with

VOM and perception of fairness of the process. The pic-

ture emerging across these investigations is clear: The

vast majority of victims and offenders report being sat-

isfied with the process and with the resulting agreement

(i.e., between 80% and 90% according to some reports).

VViiccttiimmss’’ PPeerrcceeppttiioonnss

Results from research suggest that victims who meet

with their offenders are more likely to be satisfied with

the criminal justice system’s response to their case than

victims of comparable offenses who do not meet their

offender and whose case undergoes criminal prosecu-

tion. The main factors associated with victims’ satisfac-

tion are that the victim deemed the restitution plan as fair,

appreciated the role of the mediator, and had a strong

inherent motivation to meet the offender. This latter fac-

tor, together with the consideration that participation in

VOM occurs only on a voluntary basis, highlights the

possibility that self-selection may be a key component of

long-term satisfaction. Thus, long-term satisfaction may

be accounted for by preexisting differences between

individuals who agree and individuals who do not agree

to partake in the process. Although it is possible that indi-

viduals who view the outcomes of VOM more positively

hold more favorable views of it in the first place, which

makes it difficult to isolate the effects of VOM per se, the

close connection between the voluntary nature of VOM

and its outcomes underscores the fact that choice and

direct participation are germane to the restorative justice

approach and its effects.

OOffffeennddeerrss’’ PPeerrcceeppttiioonnss

Results from research also indicate that participat-

ing in VOM is also largely positive for juvenile offend-

ers who report having understood their mistakes and

the consequences of their mistakes for the victim; fur-

thermore, feelings of internal change have been

reported. Nevertheless, a tendency to use the VOM

process instrumentally as a way to conviction has also

been observed.

Recidivism

VOM and other measures grounded in the restorative

justice model have met with unprecedented interest in

the past decade. This interest in part reflects the disaf-

fection toward more traditional approaches that are

deemed to have failed to reduce the prevalence and

recidivism of youth crime. A number of studies have

examined whether participation in VOM is associated

with decreased prevalence and severity of recidivism in

youth crime. The outcomes of these studies have been

summarized in recent meta-analytic work and indicate

that juveniles who underwent VOM were less likely to

re-offend a year after VOM, and when they did so, the

new offenses were less severe than those that originally

resulted in VOM participation.

These results have been considered promising evi-

dence in favor of the efficacy of VOM in reducing

youth crime. However, these studies suffer from some

methodological limitations. For one, only in a small

subset of them were juvenile offenders randomly

assigned to VOM as compared with other intervention

measures. If the cases were referred for VOM because

they were considered particularly amenable to this form

of intervention, the differences in recidivism may

reflect inherent differences between the VOM group

and the comparison group. Furthermore, even when

randomization procedures were employed, participa-

tion in VOM was still voluntary. This intrinsic charac-

teristic of the process makes it difficult to evaluate the

effects of VOM in an unbiased fashion.

The Future of VOM

Over the past three decades, VOM has witnessed

increasing interest in several parts of the world. VOM is

appealing because it is rooted in shared values of soli-

darity, reparation, and a sense of justice, while it holds

the promise of becoming an effective measure for

reducing and preventing youth crime and for increasing

citizens’ sense of security.

To maintain such a promise, extant research results

should be confirmed by more extensive investigations

employing rigorous designs, including studies in

which individuals are randomly assigned to VOM,

experimental and control groups are measured on key

variables pre- and post-VOM, and the effects of VOM

are followed up longitudinally over several years.

Simona Ghetti and

Anna Mestitz

See alsoAlternative Dispute Resolution; Juvenile Offenders;

Victimization; Victim Participation in the Criminal Justice

System

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