Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 18, 1991 TAG: 9103180147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GORDON HICKEY THE RICHMOND NEWS LEADER
DATELINE: RICHMOND (AP) LENGTH: Medium
Force the offender to meet his victim and hear the crime described from the victim's perspective, to hear just how terrible that theft or break-in was.
Then, with the help of a mediator, work out a way for the offender to repay the victim.
"This puts a face on crime" for offenders, said Carl S. Stauffer, the new director of the Capital Area Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, a program being created here that will do just that.
Stauffer, a Mennonite minister who came to Richmond in 1988, said he wanted the part-time job because, "I'm a mediator. I believe strongly in the process. . . . I would like to believe this could be an alternative to incarceration."
He said half the people in prison are there for non-violent offenses, but learn to become violent while behind bars. The reconciliation program could keep some of them out of prison and from becoming violent, he believes.
The program also will be good for the victim because it will allow him or her "to be part of the process," Stauffer said.
Organizers hope the Richmond program can get under way as soon as they find an office. They also hope it will handle 60 offenders in its first 12 months and 200 a year by its third year of operation.
Judith T. Clarke, a member of the board of directors, said the Virginia Law Foundation has promised the reconciliation program $25,000, but the money must be matched with private donations. Also, the program has requested financial help from United Way Services.
Victim-offender reconciliation programs were started in the United States by a Mennonite church in Elkhart, Ind., in 1978. They are based on a program that was begun in Ontario, Canada, in 1974.
Edward R. Parker, another director of the Richmond-area program, said such programs could offer judges, police officers and probation officials an alternative to incarceration in some cases.
Parker, senior partner in the law firm of Parker, Pollard and Brown, said the program will be aimed primarily at people who have committed non-violent property crimes. Also involved might be those convicted of drug-related crimes.
"We expect to work a good bit with juveniles," he said.
A program similar to Richmond's operates in Batavia, N.Y., but with an exception: It puts victims of violent crimes together with the criminals.
Dennis Whitman, director of the Batavia program, said it has been operated by the Sheriff's Department there for the past 10 years. Last year, a truck driver convicted of killing a man sat down with the mother and wife of the victim at a reconciliation meeting, he said.
"The process of helping the victims to heal began in that meeting," Whitman said. The assailant was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.
Clarke of the Richmond-area reconciliation program said organizers have set their sights high.
"We're trying to change the criminal justice system. We can't just keep on locking [people] up, because it's not working."
by CNB