Disentangling the Impact of Victim-Offender Mediation in Youth Recidivism

Abstract

Victim-offender mediation has been considered a highly valued educational measure in the field of restorative justice, but which is its real impact on youth recidivism from an evidence-based perspective? The aim of this study was to examine the effect of this type of intervention on Spanish juvenile offenders assigned two educational interventions (N = 104): victim-offender mediation (VOM) and community service (CS). Youth offenders were aged between 14-18 years (M = 16.04), and their risk level was assessed by the YLS/CMI Inventory. A 24-month follow-up period was taken into account to evaluate recidivism. Results showed that the type of intervention applied to minors did not have a significant differential effect on subsequent recidivism rates. However, risk level proved to be a determining variable for predicting recidivism. Therefore, it is an adequate matching with minors’ real situation and not the educational measure per se which influences recidivism.

Keywords

• victim-offender mediation
• community service
• recidivism
• risk level
• youth level of service/ case management inventory (yls/cmi)
• restorative justice