Making a Case for Incorporating Victim–Offender Mediation into the Criminal Justice System of Trinidad and Tobago

The Criminal Procedure Rules were implemented in 2016 by virtue of Legal Notice No. 55/2016 with an emphasis on the disposition of and dealing with matters ‘justly’. This ambitious objective cannot be accomplished by solely adhering to the legal framework that currently governs the criminal justice system. Restorative justice has been seen as an opportunity and an approach for victims and other stakeholders of crime to deal with the same. At the forefront of such approaches is victim–offender mediation, which can be utilized for both juvenile and adult offenders. Inclusion of such a process as part of the criminal justice system of Trinidad and Tobago would assist in realizing the objectives envisioned by the Criminal Procedure Rules.