On (in)admissibility of referring a criminal case to mediation at the stage of preparatory proceedings in rem

Victim-offender mediation has been functioning in Poland since 1998. Al-though the codifiers of criminal law assumed that the most appropriate time for mediation is preparatory proceedings, statistics show that prosecutors’ interest in this institution is negligible. Practitioners signal that the possibility of referring cases to mediation before the charges are brought would change this situation. The author critically analyses this thesis in light of the principles of mediation and criminal procedure.