Wiedergutmachung und Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich im schweizerischen Strafrecht

Development of a model taking into account German and Austrian criminal law

Summary:
The inclusion of restorative justice and victim-offender mediation in criminal law has been accompanied by a lively discussion in the German-speaking legal sphere since the 1980s. Some see restorative justice and victim-offender mediation as a valuable instrument of offense processing and prevention, while others see guarantees of the rule of law at risk and fear the venality of criminal law.
This paper examines the criticism of restorative justice and victim-offender mediation. In the process, it becomes clear that an orientation toward the purposes of punishment seems indispensable. On the basis of a concrete draft model, it is shown that and how these instruments can be appropriately and properly integrated into the existing Swiss criminal law.