Victim-Offender Dialogue

Articles on meetings of prisoners with their actual victims while they are in prison.

Unite offering prisoner mediation service at Kirklevington Grange Prison

from the article by Sandy McKenzie in the Evening Gazette: ....Mr James said the focus was always on the long-term goal of reducing reoffending. “We’re also providing a victim-offender mediation service for those Kirklevington prisoners who agree to talk to their victims and where the victim agrees to meet the perpetrator. “This is one way a prisoner can show they have taken responsibility for their actions. They may want to offer an explanation to the victim. They may want to say sorry and agree a way to make amends.”

Presentations of The Final Gift

Thank you for your review of Therese Bartholomew's film, The Final Gift. I have seen this film shown at two different churches, with Therese there [...]

Review: The Final Gift: A documentary film

Reviewed by Lynette Parker The Final Gift-- A Documentary Film offers an intimate look into one woman’s journey of healing following the violent death of her brother. Therese Bartholemew’s brother, Steve, died after being shot in an altercation at a club. This film results from her attempt to understand what happened and its impact on their family. It chronicles their emotions and responses from receiving the first phone call to the sentencing to Therese’s meeting with the offender.

For Sonoma cyclist’s widow, meeting husband’s killer changed her life

from the article by Chris Smith in the Press Democrat: For many months, Patty O’Reilly plotted and rehearsed and steeled herself for the perfect act of vengeance on the man who killed her husband on a rural Santa Rosa road in 2004.

Denver woman feels the power of restorative justice after son murdered

from the article by Kevin Simpson in the Denver Post: ....When legislation last year cleared the way for a pilot program in restorative justice with the Colorado Department of Corrections, Evans — who had testified on behalf of the measure — embraced the opportunity to go first. She and her older son Calvin Hurd, who was 6 when gunshots peppered the car where he sat sleeping with his brother, began more than six months of preparation for a direct dialogue with Johnson. Part of that involved revisiting the crime. Evans had driven with her two children to a northeast Denver duplex to pick up her grandniece because there had been a drive-by there the previous night. She left her sons in the car.

Chickens and chats form basis of new prison life

from the entry on This is Corwall: ...."It may sound gimmicky, because this is supposed to be a prison and a place of punishment, but the people I'm charged with looking after are some of the most troubled and troublesome members of society," he said. "Their individual backgrounds are horrendous in terms of not having a father figure, and a lack of education and the opportunities that you and I experienced." Through treating prisoners with "decency" and giving back a sense of respect, staff are already seeing a drop in incidents of bullying and drug abuse. A large number of prisoners have volunteered to sign up to a scheme to donate a small weekly sum to the Victim Support Service.

Meeting the murderer: Profile of victim-offender dialogue facilitator

from the entry on Grits for Breakfast: See an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor about a boat builder from Maine who runs a non-profit facilitating victim-offender dialogue (VOD) between violent criminals and their victims or their families, which is an idea derived from "restorative justice" models.

Advance Mediation Paper

Great story, I'm using it in my advance mediation paper!

Aboriginal community liaison

I would like to hear more about the restorative justice an the victim and the violator i work for parolees to reinstatement in to community [...]

let crime victims choose restorative justice

Eva-Lynne, responding your comments above, you make some good points. However, what is clear to me is that crime victims increasingly are asking for the [...]

Mutual Trust

I read this article with interest Mr. Ali, the victim of a violent assault, stated:  "Notts Probation Service claim to be advocates   of restorative justice, [...]

Crime victims choose restorative justice

What an excellent article you have re-printed here. It points out a new trend that appears to show that crime victims are at times denied [...]

Why can't I tell my brutal attacker that I forgive?

from the article in the Nottingham Post ....Mr Ali, who lives in the Arboretum area of Nottingham, was left unconscious on the floor of St Peter's Gate after he was knocked out with one punch on at around 4.45pm on July 24, 2008. The 48-year-old was then stamped on and kicked in his head as shoppers and passersby looked on. When he arrived at hospital, fluid from his brain was leaking out of his nose. Jackson, then 27 and of Eddleston Drive, Clifton, was jailed for a minimum of five years after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, part way through a retrial at Nottingham Crown Court in July 2009.

serious crimes & victims rights

Thank you for posting this importnat opinion piece. Through the words of victims (survivors) of violent crime we learn how valuable restorative justice is to [...]

Restorative justice in a case of serious sexual assault

from the article by Claire Chung for Restorative Justice Week 2011: ....I was raped twice, at knifepoint, by a man who had been released from prison, just 24 hours earlier. I was his 27th victim. I reported the crime immediately. He had walked off abruptly in the middle of the attack and I was sure of 2 things: he had done this before and he would do it again. I was believed and the rapist was caught, sentenced and returned to prison. Justice was done. Since the assailant pled “guilty” he was allowed a third off his tariff and the Judge, “to spare me any further distress”, proceeded quickly to his decision. Although I was in court, nobody looked at me and nobody heard me.

victims meeting juvenile offenders face-to-face

Thank you for posting this story from the UK showing that crime victims are increasing asking to meet their offenders in prison. In this case, [...]

Father of Adam Rogers meets son’s teenage killer in prison

from the story by Sam Chadderton in Lacashire Telegraph: Adam Rogers’s father and his teenage killer have come face to face in an ‘emotional’ prison meeting. .... Dave Rogers who has campaigned with wife Pat for an end to senseless violence in their 24-year-old son’s memory, said he would recommend the ‘restorative justice’ process to other grieving families.

Thanks

I was pleasantly surprised to find my report referenced on this page. Thanks for putting it there. I'd be interested to hear how you heard [...]

Restorative justice and prisoner reintegration

from Joe Casey and Ben Jarman's report The Social Reintegration of Ex-Prisoners in Council of Europe Member States The offender had already been in prison for five years. He had been convicted of rape. He and the victim had known each other; they had grown up in the same neighbourhood, he had been friends with the victim’s brother, and the victim’s father had been his teacher at primary school. The case, with his agreement, was referred to mediators by the director of his prison rehabilitation programme. He felt ashamed, and felt he needed the victim to hear him admit the crime, since at trial he had denied his role in the crime, under the guidance of his lawyer, and had in fact blamed the offence on the victim.

Murderers turned peacemakers

from the article by Laurel Kaufer on Peace X Peace: How is it that women, with dark pasts, serving time for murder and manslaughter, could possibly become honored peacemakers? Their story is one of personal commitment to themselves and the community in which most are destined to live out their lives. “This is an environment filled with conflict and violence. There is a dire need and want for change,” says Susan Russo, one of the fifteen initial peacemakers, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the largest prison for women in the world, Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, CA. “Mediation interests all of us because we are lifers and long-termers hoping to make a difference in teaching our peers that there is a better way.” Beginning her quest in 2007, Sue Russo wrote over 50 handwritten letters from prison to mediators all over California. Her letters went unanswered until August of 2009 when one of her letters made it to me, Laurel Kaufer, Esq., a Southern California mediator and peacemaker and founder of the post-Katrina Mississippi Mediation Project.