ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the humanistic approach to victim-offender mediation. It outlines what makes the humanistic approach to mediation so unique, highlighting specific elements of the approach, as well as evidence of its effectiveness. Restorative justice can therefore be thought of as victim-centered, while the traditional criminal justice system can be thought of as offender-centered. Restorative justice provides an alternative way of responding to crime, wrongdoing, or rule breaking than is provided by the traditional criminal justice system. Humanistic victim-offender mediation is a form of restorative justice dialogue used in criminal cases, as well as other forms of rule breaking and wrongdoing. A humanistic approach to conflict resolution, while grounded in thousands of victim offender mediation cases over several decades, is now beginning to be applied in other settings such as marital disputes, family conflicts, neighborhood conflicts, church conflicts, and even in workplaces.