What is victim-offender mediation?

“Victim-offender mediation is a voluntary service offered to those involved in criminal offences. It seeks to resolve the conflict which arose due to the crime or to clarify what led up to it - outside the courtroom and in a self-determined manner. In fact, mediation is the form most used in Germany for carrying out victim-offender restorative justice. This means that those involved do not sit down alone to talk about what happened. Rather, the process is accompanied by neutral helpers.”

How does mediation work?

“There are separate initial conversations, and the idea behind those is to build down psychological barriers so that they can get information about our services, find out how the process works, what the possibilities are, and what reservations they may have about it.
After that conversation, they have the opportunity to make a completely free decision: Do I want to participate in this or not? If both parties are willing to take part in the process, the person performing the mediation will make the appointments.
There is an introductory phase with explanations: What are the speaking rules? What is the background of our having this meeting today, and how do we want to conduct this conversation?
The second phase focuses on every person having the opportunity to relate what they have experienced and what happened. And this happens against the background that: One person has the right to speak and the others must listen.
In the next phase, we actually attempt to begin a common communication, so when I relate xy, what associations did I have, what feelings did I have, what desires have resulted from that, and are there any possible misunderstandings that we might clarify. We call this Konflikterhellung – “shedding light on the conflict,” because only when light replaces darkness can we proceed to the next phase, namely resolving the overall conflict.
Then we search for the common denominator, and the common denominator we seek is from the victim’s perspective: “What do I need?” And from the offender’s perspective, it’s “What can I do?” To conclude the process, in the best case an agreement is made, and the key here is to have a written document that states what the agreement is.”

When and in what cases does mediation come into question?

“Victim-offender mediation is possible at every stage of the proceedings. The precondition is always that both parties are willing to have an exchange about what happened. And there aren’t any classic offences that we see again and again. We can’t say that particularly minor crime is suitable and serious crime is excluded.”

Why do we need victim-offender mediation in addition to the normal court proceedings?

“The conflict to be resolved is not passed on to a higher instance as it is in criminal proceedings. Rather, I’m in a position to be able to say, as an expert in my own experience: I need this, I am interested in this – I don’t want that, that is not good for me. And that means that you give yourself an active role and therefore achieve a moment of self-empowerment.”



Profession: Head of the Service Bureau for Victim-Offender Mediation and Conflict Settlement in Cologne
Task: The Service Bureau for Victim-Offender Mediation and Conflict Settlement is an independent body providing mediation between the perpetrator and the victim of a criminal offence. Professional mediators first hold individual conversations and then mediate between offenders and victims.