Essay On Victim Offender Conferencing

I’ve found that the effects of victim offender conferencing vary widely and that each step to the process is vital and a key part to properly carrying out the restoration. I can conclude that the victim offender conferencing practice mostly has a positive effect on both the victim and the offender. It has a positive effect mostly emotionally for the victim because they tend to resolve some issues they felt strongly about with their offender. Mentally, however, I believe it would take more time and deeper work to figure out how it would either benefit the victim or not. For the offender, emotionally, the conferencing can relieve their sense of guilt or even make their guilt an even heavier toll after seeing who the harm was done to. It varies with the offenders just as it does with the victims although, it also provides the offenders with closure when they are given the opportunity to apologize. Especially if being able to …show more content…
For the facilitator it is a matter of getting both parties to agree to the meeting, making sure the meeting goes as well as possible, and then to carry out all of the afterward processing. For the victim, the idea is like a teeter-totter that depends on what type of crime was committed. Mostly a victim is willing to participate because it is important to them to get answers and to be able to hold the offender accountable. However, there are some cases where even the option and thought of meeting with their offender can put them further into distress. For the offender, they tend to lean more on the not participating side of the teeter-totter because many of them have said that it is easier to face a sentencing and jail than it is to face their victims (Amstutz 2009). Mostly though, offenders do participate and it helps them to realize what they have done and helps them hold themselves