Victim-offender mediation in the post sentencing stage and the role of the Judge.
(Translation of Abstract: M. Lourdes Fernandez Manzano - Spanish version)
Josep Antonio Rodriguez
The use of victim-offender mediation in the post-sentencing stage is affected by serious conditions and obstacles: The structure of the process which is based in controversy, the inappropriate treatment of the people, the symbolic function given to the judicial sentence as a solution for “the problem" which was caused by a crime, and finally the excessive time for the criminal justice system to respond. All these factors determine that the parties (people) become exhausted in the post-sentencing stage, without neither the strength nor the hope of getting anything more substantial than what is offered to them. The model to prevent the intervention of the Judge beyond the selection of cases has been ineffective. It is necessary the promotion of a more prominent role of judges in an initial phase to test the will of the parties in participating in the mediation process.
Joseph A. Rodriguez Saenz, has worked as a magistrate since 2000, currently in the 21 st Criminal Court of Barcelona, specializing in post-sentencing penal procedure. From 1987 to 1999 he practiced as an attorney in the fields of criminal and penitentiary law. He has worked as a trainer at the Police Academy in Catalonia between 1992 and 2000 and at the Judicial School between 2004 and 2006.
