The article presents an analysis of the benefits of criminal mediation in Poland in the context of restorative justice. The first part presents mediation as a form of restorative justice and compares it with traditional retributive justice, pointing out the key differences between them. In the next part, the author presents the benefits of mediation for the justice system and crime victims, as well as the impact of positive outcomes of criminal mediation on the perpetrator obtaining real procedural benefits in the form of more lenient penalties. The study uses a dogmatic-legal method, based on the views presented in the literature on the subject and in the case law of Polish courts.