Contents Dobrochna Wójcik: Foreword 7

Wolfgang Rau: The activities of the Council of Europe in the area of mediation between juvenile offenders and their victims 10

Martin Wright: The development of restorative justice 15

Bernd-Dieter Meier: Restorative justice — the basic idea behind the concept 36

Christa Pelikan: Mediation between the victim and the offender in Austria: legal ramifications and practice 51

Ivo Aertsen: Victim-offender mediation in Belgium: legal background and practice 60

Martin Wright: Victim-offender mediation in the United Kingdom: legal background and practice 75

Janina Waluk: Who is introducing mediation in Poland and why? 95

Beata Czarnecka-Dzialuk: The experimental programme of mediation between the juvenile offender and the victim in Poland Underlying assumptions and first experiences 109

Dobrochna Wójcik: The concept behind evaluation studies for an experimental programme of mediation between juvenile offender and victim 116

Martin Wright: Key questions on victim-offender mediation 125

Dobrochna Wójcik: Key subject areas of discussion 133