ABSTRACT
In the early nineties the Fachstelle für Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich und Konfliktschlichtung of the Brücke e.V. in Munich (which runs a programme of victim–offender reconciliation) noticed an increasing number of cases concerning criminal offences in or near schools (in school buildings, on playgrounds, on the way to school). All types of schools (primary, secondary and high school) were represented in this. The offences committed involved mainly bodily harm, sometimes sexual harassment. Legal action was usually instituted by the school teachers or the headteacher, rarely by the victims or their parents. This call for formal proceedings often expressed the wish to put an end to a situation which had got out of control. Nearly all criminal acts arose out of ongoing conflict whose escalation was not prevented at an early stage. In the end a report to the police seemed to be the only and necessary consequence. In this situation the offenders described their experience of being excluded and stigmatized as the usual reaction to any form of their rule-breaking. Some of the victims, however, reported that their complaints were not taken seriously by their teachers so that they felt rejected and left alone.
