Understanding the Scope of Victim-Offender Dialogues: Restorative Justice Programs in Crimes of Severe Violence

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Restorative justice (RJ), as a supplement or alternative to the formal criminal justice system, is gaining in popularity because of its greater flexibility in format and its ability to create ways for both victims and offenders to play a more integral role in the justice process through the use of facilitator mediated victim-offender dialogues. Most RJ programs in the U.S. focus on minor crimes and juvenile offenders. To date, only 32 states include serious crimes, such as murder, rape/sexual assault, and intimate partner abuse, in RJ programming. However, very little is known about the advantages and disadvantages of including crimes of gendered violence, specifically, in RJ practices. Through telephone interviews with Directors and/or facilitators of RJ programs in the 32 states across the U.S. that include crimes of severe violence in RJ programs, this research explores the perceptions and practices of victim-offender dialogues with gendered violence at both the pre- and post-conviction stages of the criminal justice system. Specifically, this research examines questions relating to the power imbalances that inherently exist between victims and offenders in crimes of gendered violence, including ideas of victims’ safety, offender manipulation, and victim/offender coercion in participating.

Authors

• M. Kristen Hefner, University of Delaware

• Susan Miller, University of Delaware

• Jessica Boatwright, University of Delaware

• LeeAnn Iovanni, Aalborg University, Denmark