A radical scheme in which victims of violence meet their attackers could be a solution to breaking the cycle of crime says Centre for Community and Family Mediation's Sheelagh Cooper.

She has been running such sessions for more than for two years and has seen some spectacular successes.

She said: "We had a case where one girl had stabbed the other in school. The girl ended up in hospital.

"They were referred to mediation. As a result what might had drawn a custodial outcome for one or both of those girls ended up being non-custodial outcome.

"Both girls were able to return to school and they were able to re-establish some kind of relationship and both are doing extremely well at school.

"Both have a chance to tell their stories, you encourage the disputants to hear the other person's perspective. For the first time the offender hears the pain of the victim.

"That's key, you control the process so you don't let one disputant the chance to bully the other.

"It's a safe environment for expressing emotions. The disputants themselves put forward solutions."

She said that most people who assault each other have longstanding relationships.

"If the problem isn't resolved it will occur again in most cases,'' she said.

"It could be suggested that once you stab someone you have gone past the capacity to re-establish the relationship but the facts are that mediation is the only real chance you have of it not happening again.

"Sending one of the parties to prison only delays it. Mediation shows them a new way of managing conflict. It's possible to get your needs met without beating up the other person.

Mrs. Cooper said most offenders rationalised what the did.

"They say insurance will cover it or they have nothing and the victim is wealthy or they won't miss what was stolen or there's some racial undertone.

"To have to sit and hear the victim, even it's just a burglary, they feel violated having someone in their house.

"For the first time the perpetrator must take responsibility for their actions and it gives the victim some opportunity for redress.

She said the process allows both parties to move on.

"The offender needs to move beyond this sense of being a bad person otherwise they are trapped in this place.

"I have never had a perpetrator refuse. It's more likely the victim won't want to engage in the conversation."

She said psychopaths with no sense of remorse were few and far between.

"I go to the prison every week and I am always struck by the number of inmates who give the impression of being genuinely remorseful and who would like a way to make it up to their victim.

"I have had cases where the victim became a mentor to the perpetrator. Those stories are not that rare."

She said one juvenile burglar was given a part-time job by his victim who agreed to drop the charges after working out a compensation deal.

"They continue to have a relationship. The boy is in a much more stable situation. He still has that job.

"I would like to see magistrates when they get cases like this to refer them to mediation as part of the sentence, or even in lieu of the sentence if they are only going to give a fine.

"In a number of areas in Canada this process can take place before charges are even laid if both parties are willing or after a verdict but before the sentence. That's a good idea."

"It's a problem solving rather than retribution process. It's hugely more successful in preventing further violence."