Let us take a step back. A basic precondition to talk about mediation consists in clarifying the words at issue so as to put the whole story "in context". There is no single meaning applying to "mediation". At least three different concepts of mediation can be identified (Grazia Mannozzi, La giustizia senza spada. Uno studio comparato su giustizia riparativa e mediazione penale, Giuffrè, Milano 2003, p. 340 et seq.) - namely:
1. mediation can be regarded as a social measure whereby a neutral third party contributes to overcoming a conflict situation that involves two individuals, via steps such as their meeting and the exchange of views;
2. mediation is a tool used to solve disputes and is linked to criminal proceedings within the broader context of restorative justice;
3. mediation is a new approach to social dynamics, whereby the judicial response becomes useless in respect of certain conflicts between individuals and/or groups.
In the criminal law context, mediation whether aimed at achieving reparation, reconciling victim and offender, bringing about behaviours that can extinguish an offence, or else going through a reconciliation experience that could be taken into account by the Supervising Judge (Monteverde, Mediazione e riparazione dopo il giudizio: l'esperienza della magistratura di sorveglianza, in Minori e giustizia, 1999, p. 86) turns out to be a tool to settle disputes that can be used whether before, during or after the relevant trial.
As no definition is available under the law, the concepts of mediation developed by jurisprudence are mostly referred to. The definitions proposed so far would not appear to highlight the complexity of mediation; in fact, they only focus on the practical features of this tool. That is to say, mediation continues to be regarded as a brokering activity involving several entities; accordingly, its definition focuses on the definition of the mediator as a neutral third party in charge of settling the dispute that has originated from the commission of an offence and/or has taken shape via the commission of such offence, in order to restore the relationship between victim and offender.
In the English-language literature the emphasis is put likewise on the practical, operational components of mediation as opposed to its theoretical features. For instance, Mark Umbreit considers mediation as an informal, though structured, process providing victims with the opportunity to meet their offenders; the ultimate objectives consist in achieving offender accountability and affording victims an opportunity for remedying the damage suffered.
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