Resources by topic area for Victim Offender Dialogue. For additional information, trainings and materials for Post Conviction Victim Service Providers go to: Post-Conviction Victim Service Providers.
The following are a list of "top-shelf" resources that have been hand-picked by our library team around this topic. If you would like additional research assistance on this topic, please contact our help desk. They have access to specialized databases and thousands of resources you won't find online. Click on a heading below to browse resources in that section.
Kansas Department of Corrections, Office of Victim Services.
This brochures addresses: who can request a dialogue, why choose a dialogue, dialogue preparation, program requirements and the dialogue process.
This handout describes the mission of victim services in Ohio, what Victim Offender Dialogue (VOD) is, the VOD process and next steps.
Oregon Department of Corrections.
This webpage defines facilitated dialogue and describes the victim/survivor centered approach.
Results are presented from an assessment of Texas' victim offender mediation (VOM) programs. Sections of this report include: victim offender mediation background; VOM programs in Texas; VOM in Dallas, Tarrant, and Travis juvenile probation departments; and conclusions and recommendations. Appendixes provide a summary of VOMs in Texas and county locations of Dispute Resolution Centers in Texas.
Mark S. Umbreit, Ph.D. Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking.
A short history and description of Victim Offender Dialogue.
This webpage provides an overview of Victim Offender Dialogue and links to a set of FAQs for survivors and offenders.
Victims have statutory rights that begin the moment a crime is committed against them. Ideally, victims would be fully informed of their rights at every step in the process: at the time the crime is reported, during the justice process, while the offender is incarcerated, and when the offender reenters the community. Different criminal justice stakeholders are responsible for victim services at different stages of this process. National Institute of Corrections’ project, “Post-Conviction Victim Service Providers” will focus on victim services, such as corrections, reentry, parole, and probation, that occur after an offender has been convicted, and it will provide resources and information for those working in this important, but rarely recognized, area of corrections.
This annotated bibliography was developed in an effort to provide current and useful information to professionals working in and with the criminal justice system regarding services that are provided to victims of crime. Sections include: general resources; confidentiality; evidence based practice (EBP); juveniles; notification; parole and parole boards; policies and legal issues; restitution; safety planning; social media; statistics and data; victim impact; victim offender communication, dialogue, and mediation; victim rights; victim support and services; and related websites.
The table that follows lists state statutes that provide for Victim Offender Dialogue (VOD). VOD is a victim-centered, offender-sensitive facilitated preparation and dialogue process typically involving a victim, his/her/their offender and a trained volunteer mediator. The table surveys the states’ laws to determine which explicitely provide for confidentiality in the statements made during VOD.
State of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
The purpose of this policy is to provide victims of violent crime the opportunity for a structured, face-to-face meeting with their offender(s) in a secure, safe environment, in order to facilitate a healing recovery process.This policy applies to facilitators conducting victim offender dialogues, staff of the Office of Victim Services, and all other employees involved in the victim offender dialogue process.
If you are looking for an explanation of what victim-centered victim offender dialogue (VOD) is, then this is the document for you. It does a great job in explaining the process and standards involved in effective VOD.
Restorative justice conferences including Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) are rapidly increasing. Due to a lack of participants’ accounts on their experiences, gaining knowledge on how restorative justice works from their perspective is critical, especially to further development of justice policy and practice. In this exploratory qualitative study we interviewed 37 participants in a VOM operating in a mid-sized Midwestern city in the United States. In this article, we examine some youths’ experiences in their VOM to deepen our understanding of how and why restorative discourses work. Findings suggest that meeting their victims through VOM helped the youths realize the extent of the consequences of their actions by being able to personalize their victims and their victimized experiences. In conclusion we highlight the importance of appreciating the unseen effects of the crimes. Lastly, we make some recommendations for practitioners to assist their developing better programs in dealing with youths in restorative justice contexts.
The current findings suggest that to the extent that specific programs are confined to offering VOM relatively early at the pre-sentence stage (as a formal part of the criminal prosecution), this may pose an impediment for establishing mediated contact in (very) serious cases in which victims experience high levels of harm. Conversely, VOM programs operating at later, post-sentence stages only may be associated with lower levels of contact for offenses that inflicted relatively low levels of harm among victims: they may consider the offense too long ago and/or too trivial at that stage to participate.
This study represents the first major assessment of the impact of victim offender dialogue upon both victims and family
survivors of severe violence, as well as upon the specific offender/inmate.
Minnesota Department of Corrections Victim Assistance, Restorative Justice and MnCoSA Unit.
30 day follow up for both victims and offenders using the same set of questions.
Minnesota Department of Corrections, Restorative Justice Unit.
These questions can be used with the offenders and victims immediately following the victim offender dialogue while still at the facility.
Example questions to be asked of the offender post VOD dialogue.
Umbreit, Mark S. , Ph.D. and Ted Lewis, MA. University of Michigan, Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking.
This 2015 manual edition is designed to be a large composite of
materials that cover restorative justice and victim offender dialogue work. It is not designed to be a fully reproducible edition for a single training purpose. Secondly, while restorative conferencing and victim offender mediation in the realm of criminal justice are the primary models covered in this manual, much of the content has wider applications for other work involving restorative dialogue.
Colorado Department of Corrections.
Washington Corrections Center for Women.
The Road to an Undefinable Relationship, M. Gunderson & S. Pessinguia discuss their stories and experience with Victim Offender Dialogue, from Washington Corrections Center for Women.
Central Washington University.
This video walks through the process of Victim Offender Dialogue for one victim's family and the offender. (This link goes to the first of four parts.)
