Effective Justice Strategies
Volunteers in Probation Program
The Portage County criminal justice system has long recognized the need for increased support and guidance for low risk offenders in our community. Too often, we see the disheartening return of offenders to the justice system on a daily basis because the offender continues to engage in destructive behaviors and unhealthy relationships. The Volunteers in Probation program matches community volunteer mentors with misdemeanor offenders looking at background, experience and personalities. The program structure incorporates all the requirements of traditional sentencing while encouraging long-lasting personal changes in perspective and lifestyle through the support and guidance of the community mentor. If the offender is successful in meeting individual program requirements, the misdemeanor charges are not entered on his or her record. The program serves to enhance the ability of the offender to move out of the justice system by maximizing self-sufficiency skills, employment, schooling and treatment opportunities.
Victim-Offender Mediation and Conferencing Services
New service initiative beginning in 2008!
Mediation/conferencing services to facilitate resolution of restitution matters between victims and offenders
What is Victim Offender Mediation?
The purpose of Victim Offender Mediation and Dialogue is to:
1. Provide a restorative conflict resolution process which actively involves victim and offender in repairing the emotional and material harm caused by a crime;
2. Provide an opportunity for victim and offender to discuss the offense, get answers to their questions, express their feelings, and gain a greater sense of closure;
3. Provide an opportunity for victim and offender to develop a mutually acceptable plan that addresses the harm caused by the crime.
Benefits of Mediation
- The outcome is determined by the people who have the problem
- There is no need to go to court
- People can talk about what is important to them
- There is no pressure to accept solutions that are not acceptable to any of the people
- Discussions are private, confidential and informal
- Techniques for solving future problems can be learned
- Solutions are not limited to money
- The mediator does not make any decisions; the people with the problem make all the decisions
- Personal and business relationships can be preserved
Underlying Principles of Victim Offender Mediation
1. Human beings possess untapped inner resources that under the right circumstances can be accessed and utilized to address issues and resolve problems of importance to them.
2. Appropriate structure (e.g. neutral third party facilitation, procedural guidelines, ground rules, intentional seating plan) can neutralize status and power, and provide an environment conducive to meaningful dialogue, even ion emotionally intense contexts.
3. The use of specific techniques and strategies by the mediator must serve the larger goals of creating a safe, respectful environment in which a mediated dialogue can occur.
4. The “Personal” is powerful-genuine stories of people’s experience can be evocative of empathy, insight, and learning. The telling and hearing of these stories can be empowering, healing, and transformative for both storyteller and listener.
5. The mediator’s presence (through non-verbal and verbal communication, including tone of voice and connectedness with each party) plays an important rule in facilitating a genuine dialogue in which the parties are doing most of the talking.
6. Presenting choices to the parties whenever possible (i.e. when to meet, where to meet, etc.) maximizes their opportunities to feel empowered by the process.
7. The power of a mediated dialogue to be a transformative experience is to be found in the parties speaking directly with each other about issues and concerns of importance to them.
8. Difference and conflicts can elicit creativity and a sense of possibilities otherwise unknown.
9. Discovering underlying information, needs, interests can enhance a collaborative effort and produce increasingly satisfying results.
10. Well-written agreements guide and focus behavior, thereby enhancing and producing results.
Reproduced with permission by the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking School of Social Work, University of Minnesota.
Community and Interfaith Coalition for Effective Justice Strategies
Faith-Based Supporters in Portage County:
Frame Presbyterian Church
Newman University Parish
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Redeemer Lutheran Church
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
Stevens Point Quaker Meeting
Baha’i Faith
Community Supporters in Portage County
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Multicultural Center
Representatives from faith-based organizations, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Multicultural (UWSP) Resource Center and the UWSP Music Department organized and supported the first community celebration of Martin Luther King Day in Portage County in 2008. Along with support of this community event, the coalition is seeking additional ways to partner with Justiceworks, Ltd. to support access to justice and effective justice strategies for the benefit of the citizens of Portage County.