“Specs,” as he is called, robbed a jewelry store 27 years ago, taking the owner as a hostage. During a long police chase an off-duty officer accidentally killed the hostage.  Specs is serving a life term, and was keen to have a conversation with the victim’s family. So were the two adult daughters of Mr. Rogers, the man who was killed.  They had never had a chance to really hear about what happened the day their father died.

The circle was held n the prison. Specs—now 54 years old—was led into the room in leg irons and sat down with his two aunts and a childhood friend. Also part of the circle were the Rogers daughters and their husbands. Specs spoke first, expressing appreciation to the Rogers family for coming to the meeting, and then offering a slow, emotional apology for the sadness and loss he caused. 

Then it was the two daughters' turn. They had a lot to say.  They had many questions to ask. There were tears all around. Then one of Spec’s aunts spoke. She let the daughters know that each time they get together for a family event, they think of the Rogers family. They recall that when the Rogers get together for family events, they are missing their father because of something their nephew had done.

After everyone had spoken, they agreed on some particular things that Specs might do to demonstrate his regret. Specs is an author and had recently written a second book that he was going to publish. He said that he wanted the Rogers family to receive the proceeds from sale of the book.   

Several days after the conference, the Rogers family spoke about how moved, relieved and appreciative they were to hear from Specs’ aunts, and to know that their family and their pain has not been forgotten by Specs and by his family.  This somehow created a shift for them in how they felt about Specs and his family.

The Community Conferencing Center in Baltimore, Maryland has been providing Serious Crimes Conferences in Maryland prisons for over three years. These conferences include not only the victims and the offenders in the circle, but invite family members and supporters as well. This not only offers support to the victim and offender, it adds to the understanding of crime and its aftermath that emerges. Often family members and supporters of victims and offenders have an important story to tell as well, and can add to the picture of how people have been affected. The results are entirely unpredictable and can be powerfully transformative.

Serious Crimes Conferences are one of several venues in which the Community Conferencing Center provides conferencing.  Other uses of conferencing include: court diversion (misdemeanor and felony offenses), alternatives to school suspension, neighborhood conflicts, re-entry from prison, and organizational conflicts.  But in each use of conferencing, we widen the circle to include everyone affected and their respective supporters.  

We find that including supporters is a powerful way to maximize the chances that the conference will do what it is always designed to do:  To provide opportunities for healing and for learning; to allow people to connect with their sense of humanity (their own as well as that of the others in the circle), and to find ways to move forward—individually and/or collectively—in the best way possible.


Lauren Abramson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Community Conferencing Center
Baltimore, MD
www.communityconferencing.org

September 2006