The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation

Written by Mark Umbreit, internationally known for his work in restorative justice, this indispensable resource offers an empirically grounded, state-of-the-art analysis of the application and impact of victim offender mediation, a movement that has spread throughout North America and abroad. The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation provides practical guidance and resources for offering victim meditation in property crimes, in minor assaults, and, more recently, with crimes of severe violence, including with family members of murder victims who request to meet the offender.

Autorentext
MARK S. UMBREIT is the founding director of the University ofMinnesota's Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking andthe National Restorative Justice Training Institute. He is aprofessor in the School of Social Work at the University ofMinnesota.

Klappentext
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.

Inhalt
Foreword by Marlene Young.

Introduction: Restorative Justice Through Victim OffenderMediation.

PHILOSOPHY, PRACTICE, AND CONTEXT.

Humanistic Mediation: A Transformative Journey ofPeacemaking.

Guidelines for Victim-Sensitive Mediation and Dialogue withOffenders.

The Mediation Process: Phases and Tasks.

Multicultural Implications of Victim Offender Mediation.

Case Studies.

National Survey of Victim Offender Mediation Programs.

Program Development Issues.

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING FROM RESEARCH.

The Impact of Victim Offender Mediation: Two Decades ofResearch.

Cross-National Assessment of Victim Offender Mediation.

Victim Offender Mediation in the United States: A MultisiteAssessment.

Victim Offender Mediation in Canada: A Multisite Assessment.

Victim Offender Mediation in England: A Multisite Assessment.

EMERGING ISSUES.

Advanced Mediation and Dialogue in Crimes of Severe Violence.

Potential Hazards and Opportunities.

Appendix A. Resources: Organizations, Publications,Videotapes.

Appendix B. Directory of VOM Programs in the United States.

Appendix C. Program Profiles.

Appendix D. Promising Practices and Innovations.

Appendix E. Summary of Forty VOM Empirical Studies.

Appendix F. Assessing Participant Satisfaction with VOM.

References.

Index.