Informal Justice and Conflict Solution -- A Research Report on New Interventive Strategies of Administrative Social Work in the Field of Juvenile Delinquency (From Crime Prevention and Intervention -- Legal and Ethical Problems P 129-143, 1989, Peter-Alexis Albrecht and Otto Backes, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 120325
• Author(s): F Bettmer; H Messmer; H Otto
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Walter de Gruyter & Co
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

A model was implemented by the youth welfare office in Bielefeld (West Germany) in 1986 to informalize criminal social control for 14- to 20-year old suspects.

Abstract

This study of the model addresses the largely unanswered questions of under what conditions and restrictions social work, particularly victim offender mediation, can contribute to the informalization of social control, and which decisionmaking processes are used. The social worker's task is to reveal the interests of the parties involved. Typically, the victim tries to gain financial advantage from the offense, and the delinquent tries to downplay or deny the offense. In one discussion, with victim not present, three juveniles who had brutalized a physically inferior classmate denied responsibility and claimed that the suffering was exaggerated; but later, with victim present, their justifying strategies broke down and ended with restitution. The informal justice model allows both victims and delinquents to be more closely involved in their own conflict resolution. 8 notes, 30 references.