An appraisal of the legal regime for victim-offender mediation in Nigeria

Abstract

For more than sixteen decades now, Nigeria has practiced colonial imposed system of criminal justice delivery system. The system of criminal justice delivery that placed emphasis on prosecution and punishment of crime no matter how infinitesimal it may be. The end product had been the adoption of criminal justice system where State becomes the victim and the sole beneficiary of criminal prosecution. As a result of the above, the person who actually suffered from the criminal bustles of fellow members of the society becomes a nominal complainant and further subjected to contribute resources in the prosecution of the accused person. This paper sets out to create awareness on the need to introduce a legal regime for victim-offender mediation in criminal justice delivery in Nigeria especially in minor offences. The aim of which is to ensure that the rights of parties to an offence are adequately protected in Nigeria. The paper adopts a doctrinal research method and finds that the plague to adopting victim-offender mediation in Nigeria flowed from the lacunae in the current legal regime on criminal justice delivery among others. It therefore recommends a review of the criminal justice system to accommodate victim-offender mediation in Nigeria.