Victim Participation in Restorative Processes

Articles on the impact on victims of their participation in restorative justice meetings.

Letting victims define justice

from the article by Steve Sullivan for Restorative Justice Week 2011: ....There is a growing myth that for victims, justice requires tougher penalties. If only it was that simple. There is no evidence that punishment is as important to the majority of victims as some would have us believe. When asked in one study why they reported the crime, sexual assault victims listed punishment of the offender very low on their list of priorities.

The offer of restorative justice to victims of violent crime: Should it be protective or proactive?

from the study by Jo_Anne Wemmers and Tinneke Van Camp: The victims in our sample suggest generalizing the offer of restorative justice to all victims. Themselves victims of very serious crimes, they experienced the beneficial impact of participation in a restorative intervention. However, while they believe that all victims should be informed about restorative opportunities, they emphasize that victims have to feel ready to participate in such programs.

NPR: Victims confront offenders, face to face

from Laura Sullivan's interview with Sujatha Baliga on Talk of the Nation: BALIGA: Yes. And I said there's no chance. You know, this is not a case for restorative justice. The system is not amenable, particularly in your state. And I can't tell too many details, because we're still finishing things up with that case right now. It's not quite a done deal yet. But we're close. And the mother of this young man was so persistent and told me that she had actually been meeting with the girl's parents. She and her husband were meeting with the girl's parents, and that the girl's parents actually were the one interested in restorative justice. And she said, Can I give them your information? I said I'd be happy to talk to them and tell you the same thing I'm telling you, which is that this is not happening. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

Listening to crime victims: North Carolina restorative justice conference

by Lisa Rea When crime victims speak about the effect violent crime has had on their lives you have to listen. On June 9th I moderated a crime victims roundtable during the 3rd Annual Restorative Justice Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina coordinated this year by Campbell University Law School. The roundtable called "Listening to Crime Victims: Their Journeys Toward Healing" was sponsored by the Journey of Hope: From Violence to Healing. The four victims of violence who told their stories were Bill Pelke, chair, Journey of Hope: From Violence to Healing (Alaska), Stephen Watt, Stephen Watt Ministries (Wyoming) , Bess Klassen-Landis, musician and teacher (Vermont), and Kim Book, executive director, Victims Voices Heard (Delaware). No matter how many crime victims panels I have moderated the stories are always riveting and often what I hear the victims say is new even when I am familiar with the stories. I learn something new as the victims move along in their lives---their own personal journeys.

Victim Support chief addresses restorative justice conference

from the organization's website: Victim Support describes itself as "the independent charity for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales. We were set up 35 years ago and have grown to become the oldest and largest victims' organisation in the world. Every year, we contact over 1.5 million people after a crime to offer our help." Speaking at the Restorative Justice Approaches conference on Thursday 27 January, Javed [Khan] said: “We have for many years supported restorative justice projects up and down the country. We know that one of the greatest benefits of restorative justice is to victims of crime and that satisfaction rates among victims are particularly high when it is victim led.” Welcoming the government’s commitments to restorative justice he added: “I want to make sure that these are more than just warm words and that restorative justice becomes a right for every victim who wants it.”

Response by Dr Martin Wright to European Commission consultation document: Taking action on rights, support and protection of victims of crime and violence

From the response by Dr. Martin Wright: The key to this reply is in the last answer: that in principle restorative justice practices should be available to all victims, subject only to the safeguards mentioned in the reply to Question 17. Restorative processes are in the interests not only of victims, but also of offenders and the community. Victim-offender dialogue is valuable as an end in itself as well as a means to an end. For many victims, action to make the offender less likely to re-offend is at least as high on their list of priorities as monetary compensation or reparation through work. When the victim and offender agree on one of these methods of reparation, it is incumbent on the community to provide the resources to enable offenders to carry them out.

Restorative Justice Conferencing: The key for victims is in one question.

from Kris Miner's entry on Restorative Justice and Circles: One area of Restorative Justice Professionalism I focus on, is remembering ALL victims. Some victims do not get a victim-witness worker through the prosecutor’s office. The list of Victims Rights for Wisconsin is very court-room, criminal justice system process orientated. That’s good, victims need support and help navigating that. What I do is restorative justice, and in striving to do that well for all victims I have experienced a conferencing question that is KEY.

European Commission's Victims' Package: Consultation on taking action on rights, support and protection of victims of crime and violence

from the European Commission's Freedom, Security and Justice area: The Commission intends to adopt a package of measures, including a Directive on minimum standards for victims of crime, in the first half of 2011 in particular to replace the 2001 Framework Decision on the standing of victims. This consultation gives stakeholders the opportunity to present their views about which concrete actions could be developed at EU level that would bring real added value. It will also give the Commission an insight into concrete experiences of those working with victims of crime, particularly regarding the difficulties they encounter when assisting victims and the problems faced by those victims. The Commission is looking in particular for reliable data, factual information and specific real-life examples, regarding both problems and solutions.

Crime victims treated like the 'poor relation'

from Dominic Casciani's article on BBC.co.uk: The first commissioner for victims of crime in England and Wales says the criminal justice system treats them as a poor relation and an afterthought. Too often victims found themselves a "sideshow" as police, prisons, lawyers and the courts focused on the offender, Louise Casey said. She said too much time was spent trying to help all crime victims, rather than focusing on those in genuine need.

Submission of Victims' Rights

A response prepared by the Restorative Justice Centre at AUT University in New Zealand to the Ministry of Justice's discussion document, "A Focus on Victims of Crime: A Review of Victims' Rights."

Restorative Justice Centre's submission to Ministry of Justice on victims' rights

The Restorative Justice Centre at AUT University in New Zealand has responded to a discussion draft titled "A Focus on Victims of Crime: A Review of Victims' Rights" on how the government might better address the needs of crime victims. Following are excerpts from RJC's response: 9. The central justice needs of victims are submitted to be accountability, vindication, empowerment, information, truth-telling and future safety. Only the first and last of these are addressed (to some degree) by the current legal process, and then only when the offender is convicted. Thus in crimes that go largely unreported, such as sexual offences, there can be no feeling of accountability in the absence of alternative processes, and victims remain unsafe. 10. The remaining four central justice needs are those which Dr Howard Zehr, known to and used by MoJ as a consultant in restorative justice, has said are “especially neglected”. They are next mentioned separately. However they overlap with needs identified by other writers.

Treasures: Victims Voice, Safe Justice and Lemonade

by Dan Van Ness I just came across several treasures that will be extremely useful to people who have been, who love, or who work with crime victims. The first is the website of Victims' Voice, a Canadian NGO sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee and whose purpose is "to address the revictimization of victims in the criminal justice system, to create understanding about victims among practitioners who work within the system and to give emotional and informational support directly to victims through victim-centered programs." The website has a number of resources that can be downloaded. And it contains links to two more sites, also sponsored by Victims' Voice.

Crime victim helps others cope in New Orleans

For Preston, the call informing her about the murder of her husband came in September 2003, while she was in South Africa. Her husband, James Saporito, 38, and his mother, Patrina Saporito, were killed in the elderly woman's Mid-City home. The house had been set on fire after the Saporitos were brutally attacked. Both were stabbed repeatedly, while James Saporito was also shot in the head.

Dan Van Ness: New Hampshire legislature adopts important new victim rights bills

The New Hampshire legislature has created a victim’s right to access to restorative justice programs, provided for compensation to victims of costs related to that participation, and ensured that these are not restricted to victims whose position on sentencing is the same as the prosecutors’.

Lisa Rea: Restorative Justice: Restoring Victims and Communities.

From the article by Lisa Rea and Theo Gavrielides: Victims-driven restorative justice is built on the premise that an offender needs to see the direct impact that his crime had on his victim and on the community, and should be given the opportunity to make amends and seek to provide a form of reparation to those he injured. Through the voluntary participation of both the victim and the offender engaged in an honest and constructive dialogue (i.e. mediation, family group conferencing, circles, etc.) facilitated by trained professionals, the participants benefit from the information exchange.

Restorative Justice: Victims' needs and rights; experience of building up mediation services in the UK

Punishment and revenge are also very old human practices, but it should not be assumed that they are either effective or justifiable, or that they meet the needs and wishes of victims. This paper will consider restorative justice, crime and responses to crime, especially from the point of view of the victim, with reference to recommendations of the council of Europe and the United Nations, with comments on the implementation of restorative measures in England and Wales.

Swanson, Cheryl. Should Victims Have the Right to Meet with Their Offenders?

Although a majority of crime victims may not voluntarily choose to meet with the offenders who harmed them, 25 years of research indicates that victims who choose to participate in such meetings have benefited. Victims' motives for choosing to meet with offenders are to obtain information from the offender, finding closure, concern for the offender, letting the offender see the impact of the crime, sharing feelings of forgiveness with the offenders, hearing apologies from the offender, and deciding whether to support early release. Studies of victim satisfaction with victim-offender mediation are consistently high, with 80-90 percent of victims expressing satisfaction with the process. This satisfaction holds across time, culture, and the seriousness of the offense. This chapter argues that victims are most likely to benefit from meetings/mediation with offenders when the meetings are voluntary, safe, and involve informed consent from both the victim and the offender. Trained facilitators should assess the appropriateness and timeliness of the meetings. Certain types of cases should be excluded, such as domestic violence, where there is clear and compelling evidence that a meeting is not in the best interests of participants. Unless there is a high probability of empowerment and healing for both victim and offender, a meeting should not be held. As long as the goal of expanding victim-offender meetings is to provide victims with more choices to enhance their well-being and healing, then this issue is worthy of future study and action. (abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov)

Fellegi, Borbala. Explaining the impact of restorative justice: the '4-way interaction' of morality, neutralisation, shame and bonds

"This study will discuss whether these concepts and their possible interconnections can help us to understand the impact of restorative justice, and if so, how. Although any analysis of restorative justice should be at least as much about the victim as about the offender, the current article intends to focus mostly its impact on wrongdoers. Hence, it necessarily reflects only on some issues within restorative justice." (abstract)

Greenwood, Jean and Umbreit, Mark S. . Guidelines for Victim-Sensitive Victim Offender Mediation

This monograph presents specific criteria and recommendations to enhance the overall quality of victim-offender mediation programs and promote far more victim-sensitive practices in the field. The material presented is grounded in a year-long assessment of the most current practices in the field, based on a nationwide survey. The material focuses on the practice of victim-offender mediation and dialogue regarding property crimes and minor assaults, the kinds of offenses typically addressed through mediation. A small but growing number of victims of severe violence are requesting to meet with their offenders. This is, however, an intensive and lengthy process that requires advanced training for the mediator. Fully addressing the multitude of issues related to working with severely violent victimizations such as sexual assault, attempted homicide, or murder is beyond the scope of this monograph. (excerpt)

Umbreit, Mark S. Minnesota Mediation Center Produces Positive Results

The evaluation, which began in 1989, was based on post-mediation interviews with a sample of 51 victims and 66 juvenile offenders. A total of 379 cases were referred to the Center in 1989. Fifty-six percent of the referrals involved misdemeanor offenses, and 444 percent were felony offenses. The most common offenses were vandalism, theft, burglary, and tampering. Of the 379 cases, 50 percent resulted in face-to-face mediation, 9 percent in indirect mediation, and 41 percent in no mediation. Restitution agreements were reached in 96 percent of the mediation cases, resulting in $23,328 in monetary restitution, 403 hours of personal service restitution for the victims, 787 hours of community service restitution, and 17 agreements with only an apology required by the victim. Eighty-one percent of the restitution agreements were completed. Both crime victims and their offender expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the mediation process. The victims appreciated being able to tell the offender how the crime had affected them and working with the offender to determine an appropriate response to the offense. A significant number of offenders indicated that the mediation outcome was fair and that it helped them to discuss the offense with the victims. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.