Do offenders have access to legal representation during mediation/conferencing?
Both Offenders and their Victims may choose to have legal representation present for the Preparation interviews as well as for the actual mediation/conference. Any costs or fees are the responsibility of the party who retained the attorney. Everyone who attends a mediation or conference must be involved in the preparation phase and attorneys will be designated support people. This means they must agree to follow the same ground rules or guidelines as friends and/or/parents: no direct participation, no interrupting, and only involved in restitution decision making if both victim and offender agree they should be involved. The whole point of mediation /conferencing is for the parties themselves to have the opportunity to come to whatever outcome would be meaningful to them. It is not about legalities. It is not about power. Involving attorneys would put it more in the system arena rather than the community. In all the years I have been involved in Restorative Justice processes I have onl
