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Are They Judging Me? How a Threatened Moral Image Predicts an Offender´s Willingness to Participate in Victim-Offender Mediation

Lohmann, Simon (2024) Are They Judging Me? How a Threatened Moral Image Predicts an Offender´s Willingness to Participate in Victim-Offender Mediation.

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Abstract:Previous research has shown that participation in victim-offender mediation (VOM) can reduce an offender's risk of reoffending. However, it remains unclear if this effect is due to the restorative character of the practice itself or a self-selection bias. To better understand this effect of VOM and unravel the self-selection bias, this research aimed to investigate whether differences in the need for a positive moral-social identity cause a difference in willingness to participate in VOM. It was hypothesised that offenders who experience a moral image threat are more likely to participate in VOM than offenders who experience no such threat and that this effect is explained by an offender's need for acceptance from family and victim. In line with expectations, results indicated that a threatened moral image positively predicts an offender´s VOM participation. However, no support was found for the theorised mediating effect of an offender´s need for acceptance from family and victim. An explorative analysis suggested that the assessed mediators operate differently than expected. These findings indicate that, in practice, offenders willing to participate in VOM are likely to experience a greater threat to their moral image, pointing towards the existence of a self-selection bias in VOM.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/100328
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