ABSTRACT
Given the importance of assisting victims of crimes and offenders, this chapter attempts to answer the following question: What are the best practices for crime victims and offenders to achieve restorative justice outcomes in the United States? In so doing, this chapter seeks to find the current best practices from multiple points of view, such as consumer, professional, and research perspectives. There are best practices which occur in victim-offender mediation as well as other models including family group conferencing and healing circles: the direct faceto-face human encounter that occurs in a safe environment and is facilitated by trained community volunteer mediators with a staff co-mediator who demonstrates good listening skills and plays a nondirective background role. The programs are expected to maximize the possibility of delivering victim-sensitive services through a noncoercive private agency that works closely with local public venues.
