I’m a believer in Restorative Justice. In America The Vengeful this is an approach much derided and ignored. In my view that means the exacters of “justice” don’t really care much about the victim. Anyway, there are many facets to the concept one of them is repairing what has been done wrong. For the victim this may well include receiving a genuine apology. The problem in criminal cases is when to make the apology. I have developed several ways to do this without the apology becoming evidence. Here is an interesting article about the timing of the apology (and it’s consistent with part of my approach).
Michael C. Jones, Can I Say I’m Sorry? Examining the Potential of an Apology Privilege in Criminal Law. Comprehensive Law – Fall 2012 Phoenix School of Law.