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This paper aims to present and discuss the findings from a qualitative study of victim-offender mediation meetings in two non-government organisations in Hong Kong between January 2015 and February 2016. It argues that mediators in Hong Kong have a unique interpretation of the criteria for someone to be considered a “macro-community member”. Confucian relational ethics emphasises that everyone lives in a personal nexus and wrongdoings will disturb this nexus. In this specific context, therefore, mediators feel that reconciliation and reparation should be dealt with by the people in the offender’s network while the involvement of unknown macro-community members is discouraged.

The semi-structured interview was adopted for use in this study, and an interview schedule with 12 open-ended questions was prepared as a guideline for conducting the interviews.

Mediators in Hong Kong have a unique interpretation of the criteria for someone to be considered a “macro-community member” Confucian relational ethics emphasises that everyone lives in a personal nexus and wrongdoings will disturb this nexus. Reconciliation and reparation should be dealt with by the people in the network, and the involvement of macro-community members will certainly disturb this network.

This study was conducted by the author between January 2015 and February 2016 for the purpose of obtaining a doctorate. The paper has neither been published previously nor is it under review for publication in any other journal at this time.

The purpose of this paper is to select the best model among alternative models explaining the relationship maintenance in mediation.

Four alternative models are employed in order to select best fit model through the test of each construct using Korean and Indonesian firm data.

The settlement model out of four alternative models is the best fit model in both Korea and Indonesia. The nexus of experience-settlement is not similar between Korea and Indonesia. The nexus of cost-saving-settlement is similar between two countries.

The field manager and policy maker get useful information from the findings. In particular, Korea and Indonesia belong to different cultural clusters.

This study contributes to the mediation literature through the suggestion of hypothesized model of relationship maintenance intention in mediation.

This paper evaluates juvenile delinquency mediation in the West German judicial system. It describes three programs which spearheaded mediation in Germany. The evaluation concentrates on the influence of program organization and implementation on effectiveness of mediation. First, results from four studies that evaluate the oldest of these programs are reported. These studies deal with (a) the number of cases suited to mediation, (b) the actual amount of mediation, (c) the practicability of mediation as judged by program experts, and (d) the acceptance of mediation by victims and offenders. Second, a comparative analysis of all three programs is presented focusing on (a) program goals and (b) impact of implementation on the preselection of cases and the role of the mediator. An overall evaluation shows that media‐tion is an effective means of conflict management beyond petty offense; recommendations of the police proved helpful in selecting cases for mediation; the complexity of conflicts suggests a special training for mediators.

The primary goal of the Restorative Justice process is not punishment but making good the harm done by offending for the victim, the community and the offender. Offenders have to take responsibility for their actions as a precondition to addressing the harm that they have caused. Offenders become aware that a crime is committed, not against an abstraction, but against someone real, a person like themselves and against their community, who are directly and indirectly affected by what has happened. Crime and conflict affect relationships between individuals who are left outside the court system altogether by conventional justice. Proceedings and arguments of the restorative process are voluntary for all parties. People are given the opportunity to partake in mediation, or to accept reparation. The process is always confidential however; outcomes and agreements can be made public, depending on the authorisation by participants.

The chapter will examine the emergence and influence of the restorative justice movement as a bridge between communities, civil society and the state in Ireland. The chapter will focus on the Republic of Ireland, but will also examine restorative conferencing in Northern Ireland. This will be divided into a number of sections, each reflecting the emergence of a movement dedicated to the promotion of restorative justice as a vehicle for a holistic form of community-based justice in Ireland. This chapter covers the history, scope, and philosophical-political background of the restorative justice movement, providing specific examples of the interchange between this restorative justice movement and civil society in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United States. The wider potential of the restorative justice movement will be highlighted.

This potential is demonstrated in the restorative movement’s challenge to understandings of failed punitive approaches, and through its socially redemptive alternative which emphasises collective responsibility for crime amongst all of the community. The chapter will also examine the international background to restorative justice, and its theoretical understandings, with a focus on key theorists such as Strang and Braithwaite, amongst others. It will examine salient issues that underpin social justice and social control in Ireland, including the potential impacts of restorative justice policy and practice for the wider community and the state.

This paper aims to use the theory of planned behavior to evaluate factors that influence openness to participating in a victim-offender conference (VOC).

Consistent with theory of planned behavior recommendations, the study uses a vignette-based design to assess participation openness as willingness to participate in a VOC if they were victims of a property crime. It evaluates the goodness of fit of a hypothesized structural model of participation openness to the data and the utility of a theory of planned behavior model as opposed to simply an outcome-driven model.

Findings from a hierarchical linear regression illustrate that a theory of planned behavior model explains a greater percentage of participation willingness than does an outcome-driven model. Analysis using structural equation modeling suggests that participation openness is largely a function of subjective norms, anticipated affect and anticipated outcomes.

Limitations spring largely from sampling method and research design. Research implications pertain to the utility of theory of planned behavior in expanding research of VOC participation openness to include not only outcomes but also relational and contextual factors.

The manuscript identifies several implications for training facilitators, talking with prospective VOC participants and advocating for restorative justice programs.

Use of the theory of planned behavior as a lens for understanding openness to VOC participation gives researchers and practitioners a wider and more nuanced understanding of why people would generally be willing to participate in a VOC if they were the victim of an offense.