EVALUATION OF SCHOOL MEDIATION AS A CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM SOUTHERN SONORA

Abstract

School mediation has gained relevance not only as a pedagogical tool for conflict management but also as a preventive strategy from the perspective of educational criminology and social crime prevention. In university contexts, where multiple risk and protective factors converge, early intervention in conflict resolution constitutes a key mechanism to prevent the escalation of antisocial and violent behaviors. This study aimed to evaluate school mediation in university students from southern Sonora, analyzing its impact from a criminological perspective, particularly on crime and violence prevention, through four dimensions: social impact, interpersonal emotional, personal emotional, and cognitive-moral. A quantitative, non-experimental, and descriptive-correlational research design was employed. The sample consisted of 106 students enrolled in the Bachelor’s Degree in Pedagogy at the National Pedagogical University, Navojoa Campus. The Mediation Evaluation Questionnaire (CEM), a validated and reliable instrument, was applied. Results show that school mediation strengthens protective factors, reduces risk behaviors, and promotes informal social control mechanisms, consolidating itself as an effective primary crime prevention strategy in the university setting. The findings suggest that school mediation represents a preventive criminological tool with high potential for building safe and peaceful educational environments.