Victim-offender mediation: Impact on recidivism for juvenile offenders

Victim-offender mediations are a type of extrajudicial measure, with high educational and resocializing content for the juvenile offender. In this context, the objective of this study aims to determinate whether differentiation between mediation pre-interview and mediation post-interview affects the rate of subsequent recidivism in minors. That is, if the fact of not conducting an interview prior to the minor and his family, by the Technical Team (mediation pre-interview), or conduct it (mediation post-interview), influences the effectiveness of this extrajudicial measure. Participants were a total of 50 minors (aged 14 to 17), with at least one file in the Juvenile Court from Castellen. In a one-year follow-up period, different variables around criminal activity were studied (recidivism, reiteration, etc.). Results didn't show differences in the subsequent recidivism in both types (mediation pre-interview and mediation post-interview), so there isn't direct relationship between recidivism and the way to carry out mediation.