Essay On Victim Offender Mediation

At the heart of the criminal justice system sits local, state, and federal level correctional facilities. While most restorative research focuses on its application outside of these facilities, the following provides insight on restorative practices that are being utilized more frequently within these facilities. A detailed description of victim-offender mediation, community panels, restorative group conferencing, and peacemaking circles is provided in order to gain further understanding of the most restorative justice practices, and their reputation throughout prisons.
Victim-Offender Mediation/Dialogue Although still a rather foreign concept to the criminal justice system, victim-offender mediation (VOM) emerged throughout Canada during the late 1980’s in order to provide a face-to-face discussion between victims and offenders (Van Ness & Strang, 2013). VOM seeks to support the healing process of the victim
While face-to-face interactions within prisons seem less prevalent, programs that are victim-offender oriented are being used more often. A relevant example emerged in 1997, known as the Insight Prison Project (IPP) (A Restorative Justice Agency, n.d). Founded in San Quentin state prison, this community-based organization strives to reduce recidivism, prevent re-victimization, and enhance public safety by operating rehabilitation programs (A Restorative Justice Agency, n.d). IPP programs are “constructed to develop behavior that is inspired by insight and compassion that involves a process of self-transformation accomplished by a rehabilitation curriculum that emphasizes a shift in ingrained patterns of harmful and destructive behavior” (A Restorative Agency, n.d, p.1). Upon its initial implementation, IPP consisted of one class of 14 life-sentenced male offenders (A Restorative Agency, n.d). Today, IPP offers 25 classes a week to nearly 200 male inmates, and conducts classes in 15 different state prisons (A Restorative Agency,