The cornerstone of unity

85
MEDIATION IN DISPUTES
AND CRIMINAL CASES
The roots of victim-offender mediation are in tribal communities such as the Maori, Inuit, and Native Americans. 
They also extend to Christian ethics, whose core values are peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation among fellow 
human beings. The driving forces behind the development of mediation in Finland were dissatisfaction with the 
criminal justice system and efforts to make jurisdiction more humane. The ability of people to resolve their 
conflicts and the processes that enable them to use these skills and influence how their issue is dealt with are 
social capital and part of a broader cultural background. 
The concept of mediation came to Finland through the work of the church with ex-convicts and victims and 
their loved ones. Mediation of criminal cases and disputes began in 1983 in the city of Vantaa as a research 
project of the Finnish Academy and quickly spread to other Finnish towns. Later, methods based on restorative 
justice began to be applied to disputes between schoolchildren and neighbours, to family issues, and to 
workplace and environmental conflicts. Nowadays restorative justice methods are also used in the judicial 
system, for example in custody battles.
Crime and dispute mediation in Finland is a legislatively regulated, supervised, voluntary, and structured 
method that is based on fundamental and human rights and the values and principles of restorative justice. The 
Act on Mediation in Criminal and Certain Civil Cases entered into force in 2006 and stipulates that mediation 
services be available everywhere in Finland free of charge. These can be provided by the municipalities, NGOs, 
or (non-profit) registered associations. The costs are reimbursed by the state. Since the law entered into force, 
the state has reimbursed 6.3 million euros annually.
The nationwide mediation activities are supervised, directed, and monitored by the Ministry of Social Affairs 
and Health. The government appoints a new advisory board for criminal case mediation for three years at a time, 
which supervises, observes, and sets goals for the development of mediation. The law makes the National 
Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) responsible for organizing, coordinating, and developing the mediation 
services and for collecting data. The THL is also in charge of arranging continuing professional education for the 
mediators, supervising the mediation service providers, paying them for their services from the funds allocated 
by the government, and monitoring use of the funds. The THL has started a 2016
–2020 national mediation 
development program that strives to produce uniform, high-quality, and effective mediation services.
According to the act on mediation, mediation can be used to deal with crimes deemed suitable for mediation, 
depending on the nature of the crime and how it was committed, the relationship between the victim and the 
accused, and other relevant circumstances as a whole. According to the Victim Directive (2012/29/EU), the 
accused first has to acknowledge the basic facts of the case and mediation has to be in the interest of the victim. 

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A dispute can be mediated if it can be considered suitable for mediation and if at least one of the parties 
concerned is a natural person. Another requirement of mediation is that participation of all parties concerned is 
voluntary and without any pressure. The parties have the right to break off the mediation process at any time. 
Mediation is not administration of justice, i.e. application of law to a specific case; instead, it is separate from the 
judicial process, a parallel process within or a supplement to the criminal procedure. Mediation does not take a 
stand on guilt, innocence, or punishment; instead, such decisions belonging to the criminal trial are up to the 
police and the public prosecutor.
When the mediation office gets a request for mediation, it decides whether the criminal or civil case is suitable 
for mediation. The mediators, of whom there are 1,100 in Finland, are trained volunteers who are bound to 
confidentiality and who help the victims and offenders or the parties to the dispute in the negotiations.
When the act on mediation entered into force, 3,500 to 4,000 criminal and civil cases were referred to 
mediation. Mediation has become so popular that about 12,500 to 13,000 criminal and civil cases have been 
annually referred to statutory mediation in recent years. Most of the referrals, 80%, are made by the police. 
Public prosecutors refer about 16% of the criminal cases that come to mediation. The mediation of nearly 70% of 
the referred criminal and civil cases is in fact started. More than half of all criminal and civil cases referred to 
mediation are violent crimes. Most mediation requests concerning civil cases come from individuals or juridical 
persons. The most common civil cases referred to mediation are disputes among neighbours and heirs, disputes 
due to pets, and disputes and bullying among children and young people. Agreements are achieved in about 
80% of cases in which mediation is attempted. In 2016, the combined monetary value of the work 
compensations and monetary compensations in mediation agreements was 1.7 million euros.
In cases brought to mediation, 36% of crime suspects are under 21 years of age. About 10% are below the 
age of 15. The goal is to increasingly refer especially young crime suspects to mediation. This is also an 
objective of the national crime prevention programme. Mediation is especially significant in preventing recidivism 
among young people and therefore enables a better future for them. Children are not criminally liable under the 
age of 15, but they have to pay compensation for damage they cause. Mediation can give young people the 
chance to take both moral and material responsibility for damage they have caused.
In Finland, the estimated average cost to taxpayers of the mediation of one criminal or civil case was 522 
euros in 2015. Due to the much higher costs of trials in the criminal justice system, this means that costs are 
reduced significantly when cases are referred to mediation in an early phase of the criminal procedure. For 
example, the pre-trial investigation of a serious violent crime costs taxpayers an average of 3,000 euros, and the 
trial of a criminal case in a district and appeals court about 5,000 euros.
An achieved conciliation or agreement may influence the legal status of the parties during the different 
phases of the criminal procedure. The mediation agreement can be grounds for limiting the criminal investigation, 
dropping charges, waiving or reducing punishment, giving a punishment that is less than prescribed by law, and 
selecting the type of punishment. The police, the prosecution, and the courts consider each case separately and 
decide how much influence the mediation and mediation agreements have on the criminal procedure. 
Aune Flinck 
– professor of health sciences, docent,
development manager at the National Institute
for Health and Welfare