Perspectives of Juvenile Offenders Undergoing Victim-Offender Mediation with their Own Family Members: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

The authors suggest that victim-offender mediation could be applied within the family contexts based on two arguments: (a) family members of offenders are also victims of the latter’s crime and (b) repairing family relationships is pivotal in juvenile rehabilitation. Therefore, the objective of this research was to assess the perspectives of 11 juvenile offenders undergoing victim-offender mediation with their family members. A thematic analysis suggests that the juvenile offenders were satisfied with the process and outcome of the mediation especially in regard to the honesty and behavior shown by their family members. The mediation sessions and feedback from the juvenile offenders are discussed. The broad satisfaction reported by the offenders, with both the program and family participation, suggests that the application of the victim-offender mediation model into the family context may provide a promising alternative avenue for the rehabilitation of offenders.

KEYWORDS:

• Victim-offender mediation
• family relationships
• juvenile offenders
• Malaysia
• restorative justice

Acknowledgments

This pilot project was funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia. Special thanks to the participants for their dedicated time and commitment in the mediation sessions.

Ethical approval for this project was given by Internal Committee (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and Research Creativity and Management Office, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Conflict of interest

There is no conflict of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universiti Sains Malaysia.