Hoe beinvloeden ernst van het misdrijf en relatie met de dader de bereidheid van slachtoffers tot slachtofferdaderbemiddeling?

In The Netherlands, victim-offender mediation has a special position because it has no explicit influence on the trial process. Victim and offender meet at a neutral place under professional guidance. Few victims take the initiative to restorative justice, so this study looked at what could motivate potential victims to participate in such meetings. The following question was asked: in what way do crime severity and shared identity influence the intention of victims to participate in restorative justice? In experimental research, the factors crime severity and shared identity were manipulated. The preferences for mediation and punishment were measured. A significant preference for mediation was found at high crime severity, and a preference for punishment at low severity, while the opposite was expected. There was a marginally significant main effect of shared identity and preference for punishment, with increasing preference to punishment with an increase in shared identity. This is in line with expectations. No interaction effects were found.