The number of reported hate crimes has steadily increased. Racial prejudice motivates most of these crimes, which typically are committed by a small, loosely associated group of adolescent offenders. In addition to the physical pain and material loss associated with these crimes, they can be psychologically devastating to the victim. New approaches to responding to hate crimes have been developed, including penalty-enhancement strategies and educational programs for perpetrators. Efficacy of the proposed approaches in modifying the attitudes and behaviors of perpetrators is questionable, and many of these programs do little to address the needs of the victims. Victim-offender mediation is explored as a strategy for intervening between the adolescent offenders who commit racially motivated hate crimes and the victims of these offenses. It is suggested that in comparison to the current responses to hate crimes, this approach will offer greater benefits for victims, offenders, and society. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/JDM)