The more serious the offence, the more powerful the effect? An evaluation of victim-offender mediation in a prison setting. Report for the European Forum for Restorative Justice, The 6th Biennial Forum Proceedings 2010.

Victim-Offender Mediation was recently introduced to the Sheppey Cluster of Prisons in Kent (UK) with the aim of promoting healing for the victim, improving offender empathy and remorse, and enabling offenders to reintegrate back into society more effectively. A longer term aim is to promote a reduction in re-offending. At present there has been little research evidence regarding the potential and limitations of victim-offender mediation and restorative conferencing in a prison context within the UK. This paper presents interim results of independent evaluation research conducted by a multi-disciplinary team at The Department of Law and Criminal Justice Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University from July 2008. Working closely with practitioners, this ongoing evaluation involves collecting observational data from restorative justice awareness training for prison officers and qualitative interviews with those involved in the mediation process. In particular, it has focused upon the perceptions of victims, offenders and other key stakeholders (mediators, offender managers and prison supervisors) and their experiences of the mediation process. Quantitative data collected as part of this evaluation will be included in the next stage of the research.