When it was first introduced, the restorative justice movement was met with widespread resistance and skepticism. Now, more than twenty-five years later, the movement has flourished and continues to make great strides in reforming the traditional justice system. Today, the restorative justice movement is endorsed by many former skeptics. There are 1,300 victim offender mediation programs thriving throughout North America and Europe, and this form of mediation is now endorsed by the American Bar Association.
The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation is the first resource to provide a conceptual-and-research based framework and a practical process for mediating a wide-variety of criminal conflicts between victims of crime and their offenders. Written by a pioneer in the field, Mark Umbreit-the founding director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking and the National Restorative Justice Training Institute-this essential resource is based on the empirically grounded principles of restorative justice through victim offender mediation, and it explains how to put in place and apply this highly effective process.
Step-by-step, this comprehensive handbook clearly defines how the process works, shows how to identify appropriate victim and offender participants, and reveals what it takes to prepare both sides for the upcoming meeting, which is facilitated through a humanistic dialogue- driven form of mediation. The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation also shows how to establish a safe place for dialogue and outlines the most efficient methods for conducting an effective, sensitive, and often emotion- laden victim offender mediation. In addition, the author provides practical information for developing ongoing programs and instructions for training mediators, establishing case referral criteria, executing case management procedures, and developing strategies for obtaining referrals from courts and probation officers.
This indispensable resource also contains reports on the first large national survey of victim offender mediation programs and multisite studies conducted by the author in Canada, England, and the United States. It provides a wealth of information that can be helpful for initiating a victim mediation program or strengthening an existing program.
While tempered with a cautionary note to the potential hazards that could threaten the restorative justice practice, The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation offers a clear vision of the boundless promise that restorative justice holds for our nation and the global community.
The Author
Mark S. Umbreit, Ph.D., is the founding director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking and the National Restorative Justice Training Institute. He is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota.