My latest presentation of the Finnish Victim Offender Mediation system. The audience was a Georgian delegation in Helsinki, September 14, 2023.

1. Victim-Offender Mediation in Finland
Henrik.Elonheimo@thl.fi
September 13, 2023
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

2. Variety of the Finnish mediation
Family
• Family mediation by courts / church / municipal services
Schools
• Peer mediation
• Serious cases can be referred to adults / mediation offices
• Kindergartens, too
Work
• inter-human (micro level)
• labor market (macro level) conflicts
Henrik Elonheimo

3. Legal system –related mediation
• Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM)
• Mediation of serious crimes in prisons
• Court mediation (civil trials)
• Bar Association mediation
• Street mediation
• Rapid and flexible intervention applied to
youth
• Cooperation between VOM & specialized
youth workers (Children of the Station )
• Multicultural conflicts involving ethnic minorities
• Environmental mediation
International peace mediation

4. The legal status of RJ actors in Finland
• VOM is regulated by a special law (Act on Mediation in
Criminal and Certain Civil Cases, into force 2006)
• Coordinated and developed by the Finnish Institute for
Health and Welfare (THL) since 2016
= Governmental research & development institute
• Other fields of mediation are often projects by NGO’s,
such as The Finnish Forum for Mediation

5. 3 main forms of RJ
• VOM (dominant)
• Conferencing (emerging)
• Circles (not applied)
Henrik Elonheimo

6. VOM method
Fasilitative
Vs.
Evaluative
Henrik Elonheimo / THL

7. VOM service providers & offices
• 17 service providers all over Finland
• Mediation offices are run by municipalities (10), NGOs
/ associations (7)
• Local mediation offices recruit their staff and voluntary
mediators, train them and guide and support their work
• THL chooses the service providers and
allocates state funding to them
• Guides, advises and monitors the mediation
offices
Henrik Elonheimo

8. Rikos- ja riita-asioiden sovittelun
palveluntuottajien toimialueet 2018
Aluejaot © MML, 2017
Lapin sovittelutoimisto
Rovaniemen, Ranuan ja
Posion sovittelutoimisto
Vantaan sovittelutoimisto
Päijät-Hämeen
sovittelutoimisto
Ålands medlingsbyrå
Varsinais-Suomen
sovittelutoimisto
Satakunnan
sovittelutoimisto
Pirkanmaan
sovittelutoimisto
Etelä-Pohjanmaan
sovittelutoimisto
Keski-Suomen
sovittelutoimisto
Pohjanmaan
sovittelutoimisto
Pohjois-Suomen
sovittelutoimisto
Kymi-Saimaan
sovittelutoimisto
Pohjois-Karjalan
sovittelutoimisto
Pohjois-Savon
sovittelutoimisto
Länsi-Uusimaan
sovittelutoimisto
Helsingin sovittelutoimisto
Kanta-Hämeen
sovittelutoimisto

9. Ministry of Social Affairs & Health
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
Mediation offices
Henrik Elonheimo / THL
Advisory board for
mediation
Administration of VOM in Finland

10. The duties of THL
• Ensures that mediation is available appropriately in the whole
country
• Customer feedback
• Questionnaire
• Reclamations
• Aims to make mediation procedures uniform; same for all
service throughout the country; access to mediation regardless
of where one lives
• Collects statistics on mediation
• Organises continuing education for mediation advisors &
mediators
Henrik Elonheimo

11. Other key actors related to VOM
• Ministry of Social Affairs and Health: the general
management, supervision and monitoring of mediation
services
• Advisory Board: national supervision, monitoring and
development of VOM
• Represented: Ministry of Justice, police, prosecutors, courts,
Victim Support, mediation offices, voluntary mediators, etc .
Henrik Elonheimo

12. VOM landmarks in Finland
• 1983: the 1st VOM project (city of Vantaa)
• 2006: Mediation law into effect
• 2016: THL to coordinate and develop VOM nationwide
• 2017: more than 15 000 cases
• 2018: state funding increased (now around 7 million euros)
• 2019: the peak achieved with the current resources?
Henrik Elonheimo / THL 12
7.2.2019

13. Crimes
Initiatives
Disputes

14. Government programme 2019
9/15/2023 14
• The use of mediation is strenghtened to reduce the amount of
criminal proceedings
• Mediation is not to be used in situations where it might
threaten victims’ legal safeguards
• Mediation of violence in near relations is still to be assessed

15. 15/09/2023
Firstname Lastname 15
• Transfer to Ministry of Justice
• “As a rule, mediation in cases
involving domestic or intimate
partner violence will be
discontinued.”

16. Mediation of violence in near
relationships
• Report 2019
• Allows this type of mediation but calls for further development
• Research (Shemeikka et al. 2023): confirms positive
experiences
• Good praxis model by THL 2023: elaborates criteria for
case selection
9/15/2023 16

17. GREVIO’s (Baseline) Evaluation Report on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of the
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence
(Istanbul Convention)
FINLAND 2019
9/15/2023 17
GREVIO = Group of Experts on Action against Violence against
Women and Domestic Violence

18. 9. Prohibition of mandatory ADR processes
(Article 48)
• GREVIO notes with concern that mediation is carried out by lay mediators
with only a small amount of training and that they may not be able to
recognise the power dynamics at play in intimate partner violence.
• GREVIO urges the Finnish authorities to introduce clear protocols
and guidelines on mediation in domestic violence cases with a view
to ensuring that:
• all law-enforcement and prosecution staff are aware that mediation is
prohibited in cases of repeated violence;
• all offers of mediation are accepted entirely voluntarily;
• an offer of mediation does not result in the discontinuation of criminal
investigation and prosecution in violence against women cases.
• In addition, GREVIO urges the Finnish authorities to reconsider the
power vested in the police to propose mediation as a criminal
justice measure in domestic violence cases, because having this
power might jeopardise the effectiveness of criminal investigations.
9/15/2023 18

19. The Finnish mediation law
The aims:
• To secure the funding of VOM by the state
• To enable long-term evaluation and development of VOM
• To provide the basic framework for VOM
• The law does not determine the actual mediation
methods
• The law is flexible and leaves room for the application of
RJ
• However, some lower level legal sources downplay how to
apply RJ and the law is interpreted in a conservative way
Henrik Elonheimo

20. WHAT KINDS OF CASES CAN BE MEDIATED IN
FINLAND?
• Basically, all kinds of crimes
• Crimes that are assessed as eligible for mediation, taking into account the
nature of the offence, the relationship between the parties and other issues
related to the crime as a whole
• Parties have to be able to understand the meaning of mediation
• Not allowed, if victim is a minor with a special need for protection because of
his/her age or the quality of the crime
• Mediation has to be in harmony with victim’s interests
• The suspect must mostly confess what has happened
• In principle, mediation is available in all phases of the criminal proceedings
• Equally complainant offenses & offenses under public prosecution
• Both children’s and adults’ cases: no age limits
• As the last resort, mediation office defines whether the matter is suitable for
mediation
Henrik Elonheimo

21. Also minor civil cases can be mediated
• Minor civil disputes may be referred to mediation if it can
be considered expedient (useful, functional)
• Not business-to-business cases, however
Henrik Elonheimo

22. Violence
Theft
Damaging
property
Defamation
Trespass
Disputes
Other crime
Traffic
Sex

23. Who can make the mediation initiative?
• The parties (Offender/Suspect/Victim)
• or their parents
• Police (91%)
• Prosecutor (8%)
• Other authorities (e.g. social worker)
• Exception: Only the police or prosecutor have the right to
refer domestic violence to mediation
Henrik Elonheimo

24. Guidelines for different authorities
13§: When the police or prosecutor assesses that a case
is suitable for mediation, they must inform the parties of the
possibility to mediate and refer them to mediation.
7.2.2019 24

25. Mediation can have legal effects
• Mediation can have various effects on the criminal procedure:
• the police may stop the investigation
• the prosecutor may drop charges
• the judge may impose a lighter penalty or no penalty at all
• The legal authorities consider each case separately and decide
how much they put weight on VOM
• Complainant offences: if victim withdraws his/her request for a penalty,
the investigation is discontinued
• Offences under public prosecution: the prosecutor can press or waive
charges regardless of a mediation agreement and the victim’s
preferences
Henrik Elonheimo

26. RJ is informal justice, but not “justice of the Wild
West”: SAFEGUARDS
• Mediators are educated
• Balance the relationship of the parties
• Censor agreements that clearly violate fairness or the fundamental
values of our legal system
• RJ theory guides the action
• Process is structured and safe
• Mediation is voluntary
• Legal instruments guide the action
• International recommendations
• Victim directive
• Mediation law
• Controlled and guided by THL

27. Contracts in mediation
• Mostly reached
– Of mediation processes that started in 2020, contract was reached
• 66% of crime cases
• 48% of disputes
• Mostly also fulfilled
Forms of agreements (2020):
• immaterial (71%): e.g. apology, promise to
change behavior
• monetary (27%)
• working (1,4%)
• Or combinations of these
Henrik Elonheimo / THL

28. Customer feedback

29. Professionals at the mediation offices
• About 100 paid workers in mediation offices
• Chiefs, mediation advisors, clerks
• Recruit, train, supervise, control, guide voluntary mediators
• Must have an appropriate academic degree
• Most of them have a degree in social sciences
• Also eligible: other persons with good knowledge of mediation
services
• May also act as mediators in addition to the volunteers
• There are usually two mediators in each case
Henrik Elonheimo

30. Voluntary mediators
• In Finland, mediation strongly relies on the work of voluntary
mediators (about 1400)
• Not paid but get their costs compensated
• Mediators must
• have completed basic training on mediation (about 54 contact
hours)
• have the education, skills and experience required for the
task
• be also otherwise suitable for the task
• There are no statutes of the professional background or education
of the lay mediators
Henrik Elonheimo

31. Training of mediators
• A unified training system for mediators
• Basic course + advanced courses:
• Domestic violence (170 hours)
• Children & Youth (100 hours)
• Multicultural mediation?
• Serious crimes?
• Civil disputes?
• Confrencing method?
Henrik Elonheimo

32. Challenges & visions
• Struggle for more state funding
• Funding limits expansion, although each mediation case costs
only 500 euros to taxpayers
• RJ should be the 1st option
• Also in civil disputes and serious crimes and adult cases
• Conferencing method
• Mediation of violence in near relationships needs working peace
• Mediation is not regularly taught in higher learning (e.g. law schools)
• Referalls to mediation are somewhat arbitrary
• Rather few working compensations
Henrik Elonheimo / THL 32
7.2.2019

33. Thank you!
Correspondence:
Henrik.Elonheimo@thl.fi
Henrik Elonheimo