Victim Awareness and Empathy Programmes

Articles concerning the use of victim panels, meetings with surrogate victims and victim awareness classes to lead prisoners to consider the effects of their behaviour on their victims.

Muniz, Fernando and Donna Villareal. "Gang Intervention Victim Impact Panel Program."

The Gang Intervention Victim Panel Program in Texas operates as a community supervision program to address the behavior of gang members on probation. It seeks to personalize for these offenders the trauma caused by their crimes. The authors outline some of the topics covered by the program, the selection of offenders, the selection of victims to be panel members, the phases of the program, and responses of both offenders and victims to the program.

Mackenzie, Jean. Facilitators'/facilitator assistants' experience of a restorative justice programme.

This phenomenological study examined the lived experience of six facilitators and facilitator assistants participating in a Restorative Justice (RJ) program in Western Australia. The aim was to establish an extended and informed understanding of the group dynamics, processes, outcomes and impacts on the participants in the program. Part of this exploration involved looking into commonalities and differences between the particular program under investigation and other RJ programs. Of particular interest were the development of victim empathy, victim and offender support, prevention of revictimisation, and the overall healing process of victims of crime, offenders and the wider community. Also under scrutiny were the facilitation of groups with highly negative emotional content, and the question of whether expectations and outcomes experienced by victims of crime and offenders in a model in which the offender has contact with the primary victim, were also evidenced when surrogate victims participated. The findings in this study suggested that the model under review appeared to have a number of benefits for victims and offenders, when compared to RJ programs which brought victims into direct contact with their offender. These included such elements as increased safety, protection from re‐victimisation, and the opportunity for some level of healing in situations when the actual victim or the offender was not available. There was no evidence that re‐victimisation was an issue but rather that the model provided a positive benefit by offering a less threatening alternative to direct contact between actual victims and offenders. Victims could access some closure and healing by telling their stories to a ‘one step removed’ offender. Offenders too received some benefits. They had the opportunity to be heard, to achieve some understanding of the impact of their behaviour, and some insight into how their victims might have felt. They were then able, working from within a community of acceptance to make some plans for reparation and for moving on. There was strong evidence of positive changes in both victims and offenders. (author's abstract)

Jackson, Arrick L.. The Impact of Restorative Justice on the Development of Guilt, Shame, and Empathy Among Participants in a Victim Impact Training Program.

The present study is a panel-design study with the primary goal of examining the effect of a restorative justice program (Victim Impact Training [VIT]) on the development of guilt, shame, and empathy among offenders. The MANCOVA results show no overall significant differences between offenders who participated in the VIT program on their development of guilt, shame, and empathy over time. However, ANCOVA results indicate significant relationships among gender, program type, guilt, shame, and empathy. These findings and their implications are discussed. (author's abstract)

Sedelmaier, Christopher M and Gaboury, Mario T and Monahan, Lynn Hunt. Preliminary evaluation of behavioural outcomes in a corrections-based victim awareness program for offenders.

This article follows up on an earlier study that found significant improvements in three of four knowledge and sensitivity factors measured in offenders who participated in an impact of crime on victims “victim awareness” program. The current study investigated behavioral outcomes in a similar study population, namely disciplinary infractions that occurred while participants continued their incarceration. Findings indicated that African-American adult males in the treatment group exhibited significantly fewer A-level (most serious) disciplinary problems than did their comparison group counterparts, while all other subgroup comparisons did not yield such significant differences. This result, although limited to one subgroup, remains both interesting and useful given that African-American males are typically overrepresented in correctional populations and given the seriousness of the offenses at issue here. Reducing the frequency of serious infractions, and therefore these additional victimizations, is critical to the safety of both inmates and correctional officers. (abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).

California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation.. Victim impact: Listen and learn.

This 32-hour program shows offenders the impact of their crimes on their victims. Units comprising this course are: getting started; introduction to victim impact; property crime; assault; robbery; hate and bias; gang crime; sexual assault; child abuse and neglect; domestic violence; drunk and impaired driving; homicide; and making amends. (Abstract courtesy of the National Institute of Corrections http://nicic.gov)

Glos, Bernard. The restorative justice guide, 2nd edition.

This guide is designed to help juveniles think about issues related to restorative justice, crime, victimisation, and making things right.

Crystal Taub and Jenny Aguliar and Liliane Cambraia Windsor and Marilyn Peterson Armour. A Pilot Study of a Faith-Based Restorative Justice Intervention for Christian and Non-Christian Offenders

As prison populations continue to rise, faith-based and restorative justice programs show promise in influencing offenders' internal motivations and external behaviors. Using a one-group, pretest-posttest design, this pilot study found significant change in offenders' (n=102) moral motivations (empathy, perspective taking, forgiveness, proneness to forgive, daily spiritual experiences, and relationships with others) after their self-selected participation in a 14-week faith-based program that draws from the principles of restorative justice. Hierarchical regression models were used to examine the impact of reported subscription to Christianity on pretests and score changes. At pre-test, Christian participants (n = 66) were more likely to forgive than non-Christian participants (n = 33) who conversely were more likely to see the perspectives of others, Christian offenders had significantly higher change scores on perspective taking and empathic concern than non-Christian participants. Findings have implications for the use of faithbased programs and victim-centered curriculums to change offenders' moral motivations and for matching faith-based Christian programs with Christian participants.

Bridges to Life: A Promising In-Prison Restorative Justice Intervention

Bridges to Life is an in-prison restorative justice programme that facilitates meetings between offenders and unrelated victims. This article is drawn from a paper by Marilyn Armour, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. The complete article is attached.

McElrea, FWM. Restorative Corrections?

Paper prepared for the 4th Annual Conference of the International Corrections and Prisons Association. 19-23 October 2002 Noodwijkerhout Netherlands.

Transforming Attitudes Towards Offending

The Sycamore Tree Project® is an in-prison programme bringing unrelated victims and offenders together for conversations about crime. The programme allows them to reflect together on the consequences of crime and the steps needed to address the harm that has resulted.

Van Ness, Daniel. Trends in Prisons Around the World and in Latin America

In this paper Daniel Van Ness surveys trends and developments in prisons around the world and in Latin America.

Victim Offender Panels