An historical and anthropological overview of various societies' reactions to crime and crime victims notes that many simple societies function with little or no distinction between civil and criminal wrongs; indeed, some do not have a system of law as understood in the complex societies of today, but rather a procedure for restoring the balance through reparation in individual cases where one citizen has harmed another. Only later is this concept superseded by the notion that a crime harms the state, which should react by punishing the offender. One chapter examines criticisms of the outcome of conventional western criminal proceedings (sentencing) and of criminal procedure, so as to show some of the reasons for the demand for an alternative. Another chapter reviews recent developments in victim compensation, community service, and other moves in the direction of "restorative justice." One chapter provides examples of mediation processes from anthropologists' accounts, showing similarities and differences with current western practice. One way in which the use of mediation in other societies differs from conventional western ideas is the recognition that the process is not just a formal means of arriving at a decision consistent with a complex, ever-increasing body of law and precedent, but has a reconciling function. The concepts of reparation and mediation have been brought together in victim/offender reconciliation programs, whose development is described in one chapter. Another chapter outlines the possible shape of a restorative and participatory system of justice, followed by a chapter that reviews the situation in several countries where victim/offender mediation is used, together with some of the problems of putting it into practice and concerns about its relationship to the traditional system. 425 references, a list of relevant statutory measures, and a subject index