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Victim Offender Conferencing Victim Offender Conferencing IN PENNSYLVANIA’S JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz Howard Zehr Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 What is happening in Pennsylvania 1 The Authors 2 What is Victim Offender Mediation or Conferencing? 3 Introduction to Manual 4 Victim Offender Conferencing Terminology 5 CHAPTER 2 Why Victim Offender Conferencing? 7 Victims 7 Working with Victims 12 Offenders 15 The Offenders Journey 17 Research 19 Notes 20 CHAPTER 3 Victim Offender Conferencing 21 History of the Victim Offender Conferencing Process 21 Overview of the VOC Process 23 Potential Benefits and Risks of Victim Offender Conferencing 26 Other Models of Victim Offender Conferencing 29 Case Study 33 The VOC Spectrum 35 Notes 36 CHAPTER 4 Restorative Justice: A Framework 37 Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System Copyright © 1998 by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Howard Zehr iii VICTIM OFFENDER CONFERENCING CHAPTER 5 Program Development 45 Key issues and questions 45 Program models and goals 46 Cases and clients 47 Organizational base and oversight 50 Operational issues 53 CHAPTER 6 The Victim Offender Conferencing Process 57 Process Summary 57 The Process 59 CHAPTER 7 Role of the Mediator 71 Standards of Conduct 71 Standards for Mediators 75 Assuring Mediator Competency 76 Self-Assesment for Victim Offender Mediation and Dialogue Facilitators 76 Functions of the Mediator 78 Do’s for the Mediator 80 Don’ts for the Mediator 81 Sample Mediator Job Description 83 Mediator Agreement and Release 84 CHAPTER 8 Training Issues and Curriculum 85 Sample Training Schedule 86 CHAPTER 9 Program Evaluation Issues 87 Other Resources 89 Appendix 93 To Experience Justice 95 Juvenile Court Flow Chart 97 Prisoners 99 Some Do’s and Don’ts when working with victims 101 Benefits and Risks of Victim Offender Conferencing 103 How do I respond to conflict? 105 Styles of Conflict Management 109 Centered Communication—Speaking 111 Typical Listening Responses 11 3 Active Listening Steps 11 5 Active Listening Skills 11 7 I-Messages 11 9 The Process 121 Standards of Conduct for Mediators 123 Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System iv Copyright © 1998 by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Howard Zehr Why Victim Offender Conferencing? First Phone Call/Individual Meeting 125 Mediator Checklist 127 Sample Opening Monologue 129 Table (needs head) 131 Fundamental concepts of restorative justice 133 Restorative Justice Signposts 137 Responding to Important Questions Related to Restorative Justice 139 Offender Letter/Victim Letter 149 Sample Referral Form 151 Sample Victim Offender Conferencing Agreement 153 Role Plays 155 Quick Decisions 157 Justice Paradigm Shift? Values and Visions in the Reform Process 159 Act 3 of 1996 167 Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System Copyright © 1998 by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Howard Zehr v CHAPTER 1 Introduction What is happening in Pennsylvania? Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system is now guided by the following purpose clause, in the Juvenile Act: “Consistent with the protection of the public interest, to provide for children committing delinquent acts programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation which provide balanced attention to the protection of the community, the impo- sition of accountability for offenses committed and the development of compe- tencies to enable children to become responsible and productive members of the community.” Act 33 of Special Session No. 1 of 1995, established a new mission for Pennsyl- vania’s juvenile justice system that has its roots in the concepts of restorative justice, which gives priority to repairing the harm done to victims and communities, and which defines offender accountability in terms of assuming responsibility and taking action to repair harm. The new purpose clause is premised on the concept that the clients of the juvenile justice system include the victim, community and the offender, and that each should receive “balanced attention” and gain tangible benefits from their interactions with the system. Our Juvenile Act now provides a framework for restorative justice within Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. Since the passage of Act 33, an unprecedented number of juvenile justice system professionals, victim services providers and citizens throughout Pennsylvania have been engaged in a dialogue about the fundamental purpose of the juvenile justice system, and the respective roles of the crime victim, the juvenile offender and the communities, in this process. This dialogue and the extraordinary effort that is occurring to implement bal- anced and restorative justice throughout our juvenile justice system has created a 1 VICTIM OFFENDER CONFERENCING number of new partnerships. These partnerships have, in turn, created new and inno- vative opportunities for both crime victims and offenders in the juvenile justice sys- tem. One of the most significant partnerships that has developed has been between the juvenile justice system and the victims’ services community in Pennsylvania. Through our efforts to understand, and ultimately achieve balanced and restora- tive justice throughout our system, we have been enlightened by the realization that there are many ways in which both crime victims and offenders can actively partici- pate in the process of justice. This curriculum was developed specifically in response to the increased focus on victim offender conferencing as a potential tool to assist victims and offenders in their quest for justice. The development of this curriculum is a testament to the newly forged partnership between the traditional juvenile justice system and the vic- tims’ services community, and to the commitment of both the Victims’ Services Advi- sory Committee and the Juvenile Advisory Committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to this effort. This curriculum focuses specifically on victim offender conferencing and its application in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. It is our hope that this docu- ment will assist in the design, implementation and operation of victim offender con- ferencing, and we encourage you to continue dialogue within your respective jurisdictions to ensure the most successful implementation possible of victim offender conferencing within the juvenile justice system. James E. Anderson Mary Achilles Executive Director Victim Advocate Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission Office of the Victim Advocate The Authors Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz is the Director of the Mennonite Central Committee Office on Crime and Justice. She is also an Associate of Eastern Mennonite University’s (EMU) Institute for Peacebuilding. She has provided consulting and training for organizations seeking to implement programs of restorative justice which specifically include a victim offender mediation component. She has provided technical assis- tance and training for eight counties within Pennsylvania that have implemented vic- tim offender mediation programs. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Victim Offender Mediation Association (VOMA), an international association for victim offender mediation programs. She has worked in the field of victim offender mediation since 1984 when she began in Elkhart, Indiana which is the site of the first Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in the U.S. While in Elkhart Lorraine worked at refining a comprehensive case management system that has been replicated in many programs throughout the country. She also provided oversight to revisions of the VORP Volunteer Handbook which was designed for use in teaching methods of victim offender mediation. Stutzman Amstutz received her B.S. in Social Work from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and her Master’s in Social Work from Marywood Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System 2 Copyright © 1998 by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Howard Zehr Introduction University, Scranton, Pennsylvania. She co-teaches along with Howard Zehr, a course on restorative justice during EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Howard Zehr joined the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite Uni- versity in 1996 as Professor of Sociology and Restorative Justice. However, he also continues to work with Mennonite Central Committee, for whom he has worked for the past 17 years, in the crime and justice area both in the U.S. and internationally. Zehr’s book, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, has been a foun- dational work in the growing “restorative justice” movement; in their recent book, Restoring Justice, Dand VanNess and Karen Heederks Strong cite him as the “grandfa- ther of restoative justice.” As a result, he lectures and consults internationally on restorative justice and the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) which he helped pioneer. His other publications include Crime and the Development of Mod- ern Society (1976) and Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sen- tences (1996). He has also worked professionally as a photographer and photojournalist, both in North America and internationally. His primary interest currently is in the use of photography and interviews for documentary work. Zehr received his B.A. from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, his M.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. From 1971–78 he taught humanities and history at Talladega College in Alabama. What is Victim Offender Mediation or Conferencing? The current restorative
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