Samenvatting

Nils Christie’s property perspective champions the active participation of the perpetrator and the victim in handling their conflict. Respect for the property claims of the offender and the victim fosters adequate conflict settlement and even paves the way for forgiveness. Christie, however, did not substantiate the notion of property. He did not clarify whether property is a moral concept, whether one can own a conflict, and how one acquires such property. After providing a detailed analysis of the property perspective and investigating its merits and demerits, this contribution shows that this view offers a valuable framework to address the standing to forgive and to elucidate how apologies and amends mitigate the discretional wielding of the power to forgive.