by Police - Bureau of Police Research and Development

The Indian Police JournalThe techniques adopted by countries all over the world forcompensatory relief to victims of crime primarily consist of mediationbetween the victim and the offender. Some of them are as under:• Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) ModelIt was originated in 1976 in Canada. This model consists of amediator, victim and the offender. They meet together and talkabout the offence, its effect on their lives, and their feelings aboutit. They negotiate and reach a mutual agreement for redressal ofdamages that occurred as a result of the offence.• Family Group ConferenceNew Zealand adopted this model in 1991. It consists of numberof members, such as coordinator, victim, offender, their familyand friends, police, NGOs, etc. Australia has also adopted thisas well. The family group conferences theory operates in twodifferent forms. One of them is known as ‘family empowermentmodel, which is based on the belief that children and families ofthe victim and the offender have a right to be involved in makingdecisions, which particularly affect their lives. In this model, thecoordinator is chosen by the process of agreement between theoffender and his/her family members with that of the victim andhis/her family members. First, the amount of reparation is agreedbetween the parties and it is only after that, the coordinator is The second form is known as the ‘offender restoration model’,which is also based on the family group conference theory. In thismodel, the coordinator or mediator remains present throughoutthe proceedings.• Circles Sentencing ModelThe credit of initiating this model of victim’s compensatory forumgoes to the Canadian Judge Barry Stuart of the Yukon Territorial Circles were constituted with the object of sharing justice withthe community. 5 These ‘healing circles’ seek to redress thecomensatory claims of victims of crime through a process ofnegotiation with the offender.46 January - March, 2013