La mediación: ¿una alternativa real al proceso penal?

  1. Carmen Cuadrado Salinas
Journal:
Revista electrónica de ciencia penal y criminología

ISSN: 1695-0194

Year of publication: 2015

Issue: 17

Type: Article

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Abstract

The aim of the Restorative Justice, as an alternative method to the traditional judicial process, is to repair the harm caused to the victim, improving victim satisfaction, encouraging the offender to think about the impact of their offending and reduce reoffending instead of seeking the punishment for the perpetrator. However, the choice for the legislator to include that kind of justice in a particular legal system is not free from doubt and uncertainty. Although Victim Offender Mediation programs, have been applied successfully in many countries for over two decades, and remains the subject of a great literary flow, both theoretically and statistically, what seems certain is that we are in front of an alternative formula of criminal justice still unfinished. The option for Restorative Justice Methods such as VOM raises procedural issues of great concern, especially in relation to the risk of abandonment of the legal rights and procedural safeguards of the accused, but also in relation to the safety of the victim. This article analyzes whether the option -if accepted- by the Victim-Offender Mediation should be seen as a real alternative to the current Justice System, or whether it should be seen as a branch of the current System of Justice that could be diverted for the purpose of giving a fairest and more effective solution to the criminal action committed, bearing in mind the public interest in such a solution, and not only -but also-, the interest of the parties involved in it.

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