Examining the factors underlying perpetrators’ willingness to participate in dialogue with their victims: Assuming the perspective of the perpetrator of a crime

Abstract

This study focused on restorative justice. We aimed to examine ways in which the willingness of perpetrators of crimes to participate in restorative justice-based dialogue with their victims could be increased. This issue was examined based on perpetrators’ reactions to their crimes (i.e., acceptance of guilt, victim-blaming, and undigested guilt), acceptance of responsibility for repairing the damage they had caused, and expectations of forgiveness from their victim/self/others. We used injury scenarios with high/low severity, and the respondents were asked to assume that they were the perpetrator of the crime in one of the scenarios. The analysis of data from 512 respondents indicated that, regardless of the severity of the crime, accepting one’s own guilt and the specific responsibilities (e.g., an apology) owed to the victim increased the respondents’ willingness to participate in dialogue with their victims. In addition, the results showed that expecting forgiveness from the victim increased the respondents’ willingness to participate in dialogue. These results provide suggestions for practice.