Legal and Practical Perspectives on Victim/Offender Mediation in Austria and Germany

Abstract

This article compares the legal possibilities for reparation and victim/offender mediation (VOM) in Austria and Germany, and their practical impact. The first part focuses on the theoretical framework of restorative justice from a victim perspective. In light of the results of empirical — mostly victimological — research, VOM is deemed to be a victim-related approach that provides a better position to the victim than do regular criminal proceedings. Furthermore, the authors stress that Austria and Germany have made VOM available for cases involving adult offenders as well as juveniles. Thus VOM has become a regular part of both criminal justice systems with the effect that victims have a better chance of profiting from these benefits than in systems which limit VOM to cases involving juvenile offenders. The second part gives a comparative overview of the current provisions available to impose compensation and mediation in both countries. In the third part, a comparison of existing official statistics is presented. From the different rates of application the authors conclude that VOM is of great practical relevance in Austria whereas the criminal justice system in Germany is still unwilling to apply VOM to a similar extent.