the victim and offender have the opportunity to express their feelings and give their version of the event. Relevance is given to the analysis of expectations and to the explanations of the rules and aims of the meetings. Special attention is given to the victim, for whom the visit usually provides the first opportunity to tell someone about their story and express their feelings. It is not always possible to schedule a face-to-face meeting because both parties do not always agree to participate.

Due to the small sample size, it is difficult to generalize results. However, it is possible to say that both victims and offenders can benefit from these meetings because it is often the first time that they've had the opportunity to tell their story and have someone with whom to confront. The small number of cases referred to the Mediation Service is due to both the shortage of referrals from judges and the difficulty of contacting victims.

Support to victims and assistance to victims and witnesses in court is not yet well established in Italian culture. In this regard, the Service is one of the first agencies in Italy to provide victims the opportunity to express their feelings about the crime. The Service works with victims to help them understand the benefits of meeting with the offender. It is hoped that with support and encouragement, victim-offender meetings will be scheduled.

Given that the service it is still in its experimental phase, further development of procedure are needed to evaluate the (positive) effects of mediation.