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Title:
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Conferencing and Mediation: Doing justice in a split community
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Author:
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Yanay, Uri
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Source:
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The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Date:
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06/01/2003
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Subject:
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Models - Victim-Offender Mediation (pre-sentence)
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Call Number:
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210.07.09
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Type:
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Paper
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Abstract:
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Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Restorative Justice, June 2003:
In most societies, law and order are seen as preserving the common good. However, in communities that do not share
the same faith or history, minority groups may feel that law and order are means to harass if not ostracize them
especially if victimized or accused of committing a crime. Alternative means of dispute resolution can help overcome
such alienation. The paper focuses on conferencing and mediation as means to empower both victims and offenders in
split communities. The underlying principle is that the wrong committed, and not the persons involved is the centre
of such conferencing.
In some countries, conferencing and mediation can be formally practiced only when a minor crime has been committed
by a person with a few or no prior convictions. In addition, the victim has to agree to meet the person, who harmed
him/her, to discuss the pain, suffering and damage. In all other cases the perpetrator and victim thus meet at court.
Even minor hostile (terrorist) acts and hate crimes would not be accepted as a basis for conferencing and mediation.
It is therefore impossible to use conferencing and mediation when it can, socially, be most effective. This puts a
severe limitation on the use of alternative dispute resolution in split communities.
The paper brings some preliminary evidence from Israel, where conferencing has been introduced and tested by probation
services in a town shared by Jews and Arabs.
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