2850 College Drive, Rice Lake, WI
54868
715-736-0940
VICTIM OFFENDER CONFERENCING
IN THE SCHOOLS
“Restorative Justice through
Dialogue”
What
is it?
Victim Offender Conferencing in the schools is a process which provides interested victims the opportunity to meet the offender in a safe and structured setting, with the goal of holding the offender directly accountable for their behavior. With the assistance of a trained facilitator, the victim is able to let the offender know how the crime affected him or her, to receive the answers to the questions they may have, and to be directly involved in developing a restitution plan. The offender is able to take direct responsibility for their behavior, to learn the full impact of what they did, and to develop a plan for making amends to the person(s) they violated.
Why
Did The School Refer My Child to Restorative Justice?
The school has determined that your child is either a
victim or an offender in an incident that happened at school.
In some situations, both parties can be victims and offenders, such
as a physical fight that engages both students equally.
In most situations, the school refers the case for a victim
offender conference as an alternative to school disciplinary action
The school has opted to provide an opportunity for
students to resolve their issues themselves, with support from
facilitators and family members. When students are victimized they and
their parents have this opportunity to get their questions answered and
describe how they were affected. When
offenders have to face their victims and realize the harm they have done
to others they can fully take responsibility for their action.
The school has recognized the value of conferencing and believes it
will be beneficial for your child.
What
Do We Do In A Victim Offender Conference (VOC)?
Facilitators from Barron County Restorative Justice
Programs, Inc. set up the location and times of the conference with the
victim(s) and offender(s). Generally,
facilitators will schedule a pre-conference with an offender one hour
prior to the conference time. The
pre-conference with the victim is approximately 30 minutes prior to the
conference. This gives the
facilitators ample time to meet with each party, address the concerns of
the victims, offenders, and their parents, and discuss what happened and
what they will be saying to the other party during the conference.
If an offender expresses no remorse during the initial contact or
during the pre-conference, the facilitator will cancel the conference and
refer the case back to the school. Facilitators
are trained and experienced and will not allow a victim to be
re-victimized by meeting with an offender who has no remorse. Honesty and sincerity are expectations of all participants.
After all parties have had a pre-conference with
facilitators, they will be gathered together for the victim offender
conference. The conference is
structured and there are rules, such as:
No foul language, no interrupting while another is speaking, to
name two of them. The victim
determines who will speak first. The
victim will tell what happened to them, how they felt about it, how they
are feeling now, and what they need from the offender in order to repair
the harm that was done to them. The
offender will tell what happened, why they did it, how they felt doing it,
and how they feel now. Offenders
are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and express
remorse for what they have done.
After both the victim and offender have finished
speaking, the victim’s family members will be invited to speak, followed
by the offender’s family members. Once
everyone has had a chance to speak, participants can ask questions.
The conference will continue until the victim is satisfied.
Verbal and written agreements between the victim and the offender
are often decided during the conference.
The purpose of the agreement is to satisfy the victim, to assure
their future safety, and to recover their losses, if any.