91172.pdf

Victim-Offender Mediation 189

took place after the offender had served time in prison (postadjudication). Accord-

ing to Severson and Blackston's 1995 article, 30 states have reconciliation programs

and most of them utilize the VORP model. In addition, more recent research sug-

gests that the number of programs utilizing the VORP model is increasing (Umbreit

& Bradshaw, 1997). Despite the majority of reconciliation programs that utilize the

VORP model, there are successful programs that do not. A restitution program

in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, is operated by the Juvenile Probate Court, is a

preadjudication program, and does not provide face-to-face meetings between the

victim and offender; however, it does offer restitution to the victim similar to the

VORP model (Roy, 1993), Despite the differences between the Kalamazoo pro-

gram and the VORP model programs, Roy found that the Kalamazoo program

was just as effective as the Elkhart, Missouri VORP program.

There are clearly many different types of victim reconciliation programs. A

discussion of every type of program is beyond the scope of this section. However, it

is important to be aware of how such programs differ, and how these differences can

have an impact on the effectiveness of the program. Because there are so many victim

reconciliation programs and because many of these programs differ, it is difficult

to assess the effectiveness of these programs as a whole. However, research on the

effectiveness of individual programs, as well as on the effectiveness of programs have

utilizing the VORP model, have been conducted.

Effectiveness of Programs
Effectiveness of restitution programs is generally measured by program completion
rates, the impact of restitution on lowering recidivism rates, and by victim satis-
faction with the program (Roy, 1993; Umbreit & Bradshaw, 1997). For example,
in the Geiger case, the mediation was considered successful because the offender
and Geiger came to an agreement, the offender showed compassion, and Geiger
felt satisfied by the meeting. However, program completion percentages vary from
program to program. Roy (1993) conducted a study in which two programs were
compared on recidivism rates and program completion. One of the programs was
the Elkhart VORP program and the other was the Kalamazoo probate program de-
scribed above. In his study, Roy found 59% of the offenders in the Elkhart program
and 62% of those in the Kalamazoo program failed because of financial hardship. In
addition, the researcher found that 41% of the offenders in the Elkhart program and
38% in the Kalamazoo program reoffended. Despite the high rate of program failure
in Roy's research, other studies have found successful completion rates as high as
98% (Fishbein, Davis, & Hamparin, 1984). In an evaluation of a restorative justice
program implemented by the Vermont Department of Corrections for nonviolent
offenders, data suggest that the program is working. According to one researcher,
the program is no less effective than the traditional retribution model of corrections
and is freeing up space and resources to deal with more violent criminals (Hansen,
1997).