Empirical Assessment (From Mediation and Criminal Justice: Victims, Offenders and Community, P 251-263, 1989, Martin Wright and Burt Galaway, eds. -- See NCJ-118327)

• NCJ Number: 118344
• Author(s): R B Coates; J Gehm
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications Ltd
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This 1983-84 evaluation of Victim/Offender Reconciliation Programs (VORP) in seven Indiana counties and one Ohio county identified VORP's potential and problems.

Abstract

Two sets of samples were obtained for analysis. One was quantitative, based on official records and used to answer questions regarding immediate outcomes and the extent to which VORP was an alternative to incarceration. The second set was qualitative, based on focused interviews with VORP participants to determine who participated, their goals, and their level of satisfaction with the VORP experience. Data suggest that VORP has considerable potential as an alternative sanction. Judges frequently used VORP along with other sanctions, including jail. For this sample, a substantial number of incarceration days apparently were displaced by the use of VORP. It also appears, however, that VORP was used to widen the "net" of social control. The balance between using VORP as a partial alternative to incarceration and using it to broaden social control will be one of the points of contention in VORP's further development. 2 notes, 3 references.