Victim – Offender Dialogue Program
The dialogue is in large part a transfer of power from offender to victim.
Our program is based around the restorative justice concept. Restorative justice aims to center the justice process more on the needs of the victim, creating a process that encourages healing and transformation. It puts key decisions into the hands of those most affected by the crime: the victim. It enables their voice to be heard by the person responsible for creating the harm.
Victim Offender Dialogue Program
The Victim - Offender Dialogue Program helps restore balance and control in the lives of victims and survivors of violent crime. The focus is on the harm done to the victim and the offender's responsibility to repair that harm.
All dialogues are victim initiated; offenders cannot initiate a dialogue. Offenders cannot use the program to obtain an early release from prison.
Dialogue preparation can take between six months to one year.
Requests for Victim - Offender Dialogue must be made through Victims' Voices Heard. Because the Victim - Offender Dialogue is not for everyone, each case is carefully reviewed by a trained facilitator.
Our Program:
- Nationally recognized and evidence-based programs
- Teaches offenders empathy and to take responsibility for their crime and actions
- Addresses improved decision making skills
- Decreases likelihood offenders will repeat their offenses
- 2015 Brown University Evaluation: The Victim Impact program is reducing recidivism by up to 50%
- Over 1,500 incarcerated invdividuals have completed our programs. The impact of crime on victims / The courage to change
...and end repeated violance
- Receive personal insight and feel empowered
- Tell the offender the full impact the crime has had on their lives
- Ask questions and receive answers about the crime from the offender
- Hear offenders take responsibility for the crime and express their remorse
- Find out about the offender’s life inside the institution and what kind of person they are after the crime