Confidentiality Obligation In VOM Of The United States And Its Enlightenments

Since 1970s, Victim Offender Meditation (VOM) programs have been widely used in the United States. American Bar Association (ABA) recognized VOM in 1994 and the National Organization for Victim Assistance approved the model of restorative community justice in 1995, after that, VOM was legalized as one of the fundamental legal institutions. As the product in the transformation process of modern criminal system, VOM is also widely applied to criminal cases in China. Although there is no express statutory provision on VOM system in China's current criminal procedure law, a lot of provinces carry out VOM practices and more and more scholars and justice departments call for the legalization of VOM. As the critical component in VOM system, confidentiality obligation is of great significance in the whole system. It helps to guarantee the offender's constitutional right, improve the effectiveness of VOM, ensure the neutrality of mediators and promote the institutionalization of'separation of mediation and judgment'by stipulating confidentiality obligation in the VOM system. However, scholars and justice departments are lack of confidentiality consciousness in the process of promoting VOM in China. Without confidentiality system, it is unlikely that meaningful discussion will take place between the offender and the victim and the VOM will be aborted eventually. Therefore, we should pay more attention to confidentiality obligation while building our VOM system. There are a lot of statutes and precedents making provision on confidentiality obligation in the process of promoting VOM in the United States. There is a very important reference value for building and perfecting our VOM confidentiality system by researching confidentiality obligation in VOM of the United States.This thesis, based on present VOM confidentiality system of the United States, uses the methods of historical analysis, case analysis and comparative analysis to investigate confidentiality obligation in VOM of the United States in terms of multidisciplinary angles including criminal law, criminology, criminal policy and criminal procedure law, summarize and draw lessons from the experience of the United States and then bring forward the enlightenment on building confidentiality system in our VOM. Firstly, the thesis summarizes confidentiality obligation in VOM and sets forth the basic theory of VOM and the concept, scope and validity of confidentiality obligation. Then, achieve a more particular knowledge of the system of confidentiality obligation of the United States by analyzing the American statutes covering confidentiality obligation and precedents involving confidentiality. Finally, puts forward the basic assumptions of building the confidentiality system in our VOM including the subject of confidentiality obligation, the scope and the exception of confidentiality privilege and the legal responsibility of violating confidentiality obligation.