NCJ Number
204204
Journal
The Crime Victims Report Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: September/October 2003 Pages: 51,60
Date Published
September 2003
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article offers strategies and identifies misperceptions involved in bringing together victim assistance service and victim-offender mediation programs into a collaborative working relationship.
Abstract
The marriage of victim assistance programs and victim-offender mediation programs is contentious at best, given the different goals of the two programs. However, collaboration between those who assist victims and those who assist offenders may function to better assist these two seemingly divergent groups. One of the challenges to working together collaboratively is the misperceptions that victim services’ hold of offender mediation programs and the misperceptions that offender mediation programs hold of victim assistance services. The former tend to view offender mediation programs as advocating for the rights of offenders while the latter view victim assistance services as law enforcement tools and as tools to punish offenders. Despite approaching the problem of crime from differing perspectives, victim assistance services and offender-victim mediation programs can work together for the good of both the victim and the offender. Strategies that overcome the misperceptions and encourage a working relationship include engaging in activities that help administrators know the other program, such as meeting with program managers to discuss the programs, volunteer in the other program, and recognize that different agency missions and philosophical views do not preclude collaboration. If victim assistance services and victim-offender mediation programs come together in a collaborative working relationship, a truly restorative justice model will be born.