Youth criminal recidivism in the Victim-Offender mediation procedure VOM

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of VOM procedure in addressing youth offender recidivism. 210 juvenile offenders participated in four different types of educational measures: victim-offender reconciliation (extrajudicial measure), file closing, reprimand and payment of benefits to the community (not extrajudicial measures). Aged between 14-18 years, they were assessed by the Inventory YLS/CMI. Recidivism rates were evaluated as a new record for four follow-up periods of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Results showed the lack of clear differences in recidivism rates in conciliation versus the rest of the groups, and the importance of the follow-up periods of 12 and 24 months, whereas the significant effect of the interaction risk level and group could be noticed.

Keywords

• Reincidencia
• conciliación víctima-infractor
• justicia restaurativa.