Six juvenile victim-offender programs in Oregon are described and evaluated in terms of satisfaction of the parties and recidivism and restitution rates. The study found that about 90% of participants felt their mediator was fair and were satisfied with the mediator. Further, almost 80% of parties reported feeling positive about the mediation meeting, while only 5% were negative.
Long-term results show restitution rates were also high, with 79% to 97% of contracts negotiated in the most recent program year either completed or in progress. In addition, 70% of offenders stated they had a positive attitude toward the victim. An examination of recidivism rates was not conclusive, but indicated a lower rate of re-offense in three counties for juveniles who participated in programs in the year after mediation than in the year before.
Description of Study: Study of the functioning and impact of victim-offender mediation programs at Community Dispute Resolution Centers in Clackamas, Deschutes, Jackson, Lane, Multnomah, and Polk Counties.
Method: Study took place from October 2000 to May 2001. Conducted interviews with 55 stakeholders (judges, program directors, police officers, juvenile corrections personnel, and volunteers). Interviewed victims and offenders who had participated in mediation since July 1999. Observed some mediations. Examined mediation files. Comparison was done on recidivism in 4 programs - 3 looked at referral rate of juveniles prior to and after mediation, one did a cross-county comparison.
Comparative: Yes
Comparison Groups: Depends on the county. No random assignment was conducted. In one county, there was no match between groups, which were in different counties. In the others, the same group of offenders was compared one year before mediation and one year after.
Sample Size: For satisfaction, the sample was 104 victims and 93 offenders. For recidivism: 28 to 251 juveniles who participated in mediation were tracked in each of the four counties.
Variables Examined: Satisfaction with the outcome, satisfaction with the justice system, recidivism rates
Program Variables: All programs were voluntary for the victim. One program was mandatory for the offender, others varied from completely voluntary to authorizing the court to order mediation. Three programs conducted mediations at the courthouse, three conducted them elsewhere. All mediations were performed by volunteers without charge to the parties.
Findings: The resolution rate was 86% for all programs combined.
89% of victims and 76% of offenders were satisfied with the outcome. 93% of victims and 87% of offenders felt the agreement was fair to the offender, while 86% of offenders and 88% of victims felt it was fair to the victim. 82% of both victims and offenders were satisfied with the justice system.
Recidivism rates showed a decrease of 64.6% - 76.6% in three counties when the number offenses committed by program juveniles during the year after mediation was compared to their offense rate during the year prior to mediation. A cross-county comparison showed a recidivism rate more than 20% lower than in the non-program county (unfortunately, comparison groups were not well matched).
Study available at http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ssw/rjp/Resources/Research/Juvenile_VOM_%20Oregon.pdf.