On The Perfection Of The Victim-Offender Mediation System In China

As one of the diverse dispute resolution mechanisms, victim-offender mediation originates in the1970s in North America. It has aroused widespread concern in other Western countries due to its special advantages which are different from the traditional criminal justice, and now it has established a relatively complete system. In recent years, many Chinese researchers and scholars have explored the theory of victim-offender mediation. Some local judiciaries also have actively explored the use of victim-offender mediation to handle criminal cases, which has achieved good effect. In the newly revised Code of Criminal Procedure, the victim-offender mediation system is as a special chapter, which has promoted its development in China. Any system is not perfect, and the victim-offender mediation is no exception. Based on the previous studies, this thesis expounds the related theory and practice of the victim-offender mediation and puts forward some suggestions for its perfection.The thesis is divided into four main parts. The first part is the overview of the victim-offender mediation. It firstly introduces the social and legal backgrounds. Then it defines the concept of the victim-offender mediation and compares it with other similar systems. It also analyses its value. The second part discusses the victim-offender mediation from the perspective of comparative law. It introduces the similarities and differences of the victim-offender mediation between Civil Law and Common Law. The victim-offender mediation aims at compensating victims’physical and mental damage, promoting the re-socialization of offenders and restoring their relationship. By introducing the extra-territorial judicial practice, this thesis hopes that it will be beneficial to learn experience from it for the development of the victim-offender mediation in China. The third part analyzes the problems of victim-offender mediation in legislation and judicial practice. On the one hand, it introduces the legislative development of the victim-offender mediation in China and analyzes its imperfections in the new revised Code of Criminal Procedure. On the other hand, it also summarizes several questions on the victim-offender mediation in judicial practice. The forth part puts forward some suggestions for the perfection of the victim-offender mediation system, for instance, strengthening the theoretical study on the victim-offender mediation, proposing specific suggestions from the perspective of procedure, providing complementary measures for the improvement and perfection of the victim-offender mediation system.