Victim-Offender Mediation: Observations from Scandinavia

Abstract

The focus of this article is the discourse between parties and mediator(s) in Victim-Offender Mediation in Scandinavia. The analysis show that mediation talk is concentrated on what happened in the actual crime situation, and what the parties and other persons present at the time did or did not do. Different “accounts” are used actively by the parties, to excuse or justify their behaviour. The explanations for crime are thus primarily found on an individual level, leaving societal issues out. A normative and evaluative inquiry of crimes and why crimes occur plays a minimal (if any) role in VOM in Scandinavia.