Abstract
The victim offender mediation (VOM) process of restorative justice is a rare program option among other publicly funded traditional justice offerings in California. VOM has proven to be practice successful around the world and this research exams whether the VOM programs in a historically punitive California would yield comparable results. This research set out to answer whether VOM programs in California reduce reoffending and are cost-effective practices relative to other traditionally rigid, tough on crime approaches. This exploratory research finds that the number of VOM programs running in California are much rarer than originally imagined but results from participating counties strongly confidently concluded across programs in California, VOM is a cost-effective alternative that reduces reoffending.