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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:47 pm
Time: 11:47 pm
Results for restorative justice programs
1 results foundAuthor: Ellis, Monica Title: Victim Awareness Program: A Descriptive Study Summary: The Victim Awareness Program is restorative in nature in that it requires offenders to address their criminal behavior. The program also allows victims the opportunity to be engaged in the justice process of offenders who participate in the program. The premise behind Victim Awareness Programming, otherwise mentioned in the research literature as Impact of Crime on Victim Classes (ICVC) is that the majority of offenders are not incarcerated for violent offenses (Seymour, 1989). Thus, it is argued that ICVC programs are sufficient for addressing offenders’ cognitive needs as well as encouraging offenders to accept responsibility for their actions. ICVC programs focus on developing an intense emotional impact among offenders and are touted as being able to reduce offenders’ propensity for blaming and increase their ability to accept responsibility for their actions (Jackson, Lucas & Blackburn, 2009). Offenders who are not willing to accept responsibility for their actions are more likely to weaken their ties with reality and use external attribution as a means of eliminating feelings of guilt, which are important for reconciliation and healing (Pattison, 2000). The motivation underlying the initial development of victim impact and awareness programs was recognition that many offenders were completely unaware and unmoved by the impact of their crime on victims. To provide a benchmark for this, twenty-two years ago, Seymour (1989) conducted the first national survey in the United States and reported that awareness classes were conducted in only approximately ten percent of the 50 states. There has been a significant increase in programs in a relatively short span of time. Despite the expansion of these programs, victim awareness classes have been the subject of an extremely small number of unpublished evaluation reports. A comprehensive literature review conducted in 2005 found no published peer reviewed journal articles reporting empirical findings specifically related to awareness programs other than Monahan, Monahan, Gaboury and Niesyn (2004). Since 2005 there have been two primary studies gauging the effectiveness of impact of crime programming. In a 2007 evaluation of the ICVC Curriculum Project sponsored by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, lead evaluator Dr. Mario T. Gaboury found definite benefits to the concept of victim awareness programming for offenders. Dr. Gaboury along with colleague Dr. Chris Sedelmaier studied the implementation of a standardized program at 10 correctional facilities in four states: California, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. The researchers found that offenders participating in the study demonstrated statistically significant improvements in knowledge of victims’ rights and knowledge about the impact of victimization on crime victims (Gaboury, 2007). The results of this study indicate that it is possible to move offenders toward understanding the impact of their criminal behavior while at the same time developing a sense of accountability for their actions. In a subsequent study of offenders in the Missouri Department of Corrections, Dr. Arrick Jackson, a criminal justice professor from North Texas University found that offenders completing victim awareness programming experienced an increase in accountability with a decreased amount of external blaming of the victim, and society for their correctional supervision (Jackson, 2009). ICVC programs focus on developing an intense emotional impact among offenders and are touted as being able to reduce offenders’ propensity for blaming and increase their ability to accept responsibility for their actions (Jackson, Lucas & Blackburn, 2009). The Victim Awareness Program in Ohio, which builds on research regarding the positive impact of victim awareness on offender behavior (Gaboury et al. 2004, 2007, & Jackson 2009), underwent curriculum changes and implemented the revised curriculum in October 2009. Programmatic changes included a Media section that allows program participants to understand the impact of the media on issues surrounding crime victims. Unique to Victim Awareness is the development of the Forgiveness/Making Amends portion of the curriculum. Historically, program participants have proposed questions surrounding the issues of forgiveness and survivors of crime. The Forgiveness/Making Amends section allows participants to begin a process toward developing an understanding of the concept of forgiveness from a victim’s perspective. This occurs while simultaneously encouraging participant accountability for the harm done to victims and survivors. A distinctive feature of the Victim Awareness curriculum in Ohio is the creation and implementation of a gender-specific curriculum for female offenders. The corresponding gender-specific curriculum attempts to increase offender responsibility for their actions while addressing the unique trajectory of offenses committed by female offenders. This study assesses whether offenders gain knowledge and insight into the impact of crime on victims and the community. The acquisition of knowledge and insight is central to changing criminal mindsets (Kegan & Lahey, 2009). It has been the experience of professionals at ODRC that this program effectively demonstrates to offenders the true impact of crime. Program facilitators have provided accounts of observable behavior and attitude changes relative to crime. However, the positive experience of practitioners should be tested by empirical evidence. This study was completed in order to conduct an exploratory assessment of the claims of increased knowledge as a result of the Victim Awareness Program. ODRC is committed to the model of practitioners and researchers working in partnership to assess the validity of theories of intervention and improve their practical application. Details: Columbus, OH: Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, 2011. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 18, 2013 at: http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/ocjs_VictimAwarenessStudy2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/ocjs_VictimAwarenessStudy2011.pdf Shelf Number: 127990 Keywords: Cognnitive-Behavioral Programs (Ohio, U.S.)Correctional ProgramsOffender Rehabilitation ProgramsRestorative Justice ProgramsVictim Awareness Program |