Victim-Offender Mediation

A Brief Overview

Victim-offender mediation is a voluntary process through which a trained community-based mediator prepares interested victims and offenders to communicate and provides them with the opportunity to meet in a safe, structured setting. During these meetings, victims can tell their story, explain to the offender the crime’s physical, emotional and financial impact on their lives, explore unanswered questions about the crime and the offender, and participate directly in developing options to try to address the harms caused, where possible. The offenders are afforded opportunities to provide information and to gain insights that contribute to their accountability and personal growth.

This approach differs from conventional mediation in that the parties are not “disputants” in the usual sense; one is an admitted offender and the other is clearly the victim. Furthermore, the process is not focused on reaching a settlement, but rather on open communication. This approach is in line with the values and principles of restorative justice, including choice, inclusion, interaction, accountability, safety and community engagement.

Program models may vary, but they all have certain features in common: voluntary participation at all stages of the process, extensive preparatory work, confidentiality so as to avoid influencing National Parole Board decisions, and highly trained mediators who are perceived as neutral by both parties. Many encounters are face to face, but other options, such as exchanging letters or video messages, are also available. Alternatively, a mediator can act as a go-between, relaying messages between victims and offenders. The choice of model is guided by the participants’ needs.

Victim-offender mediation and federal corrections

A bit of history…

The Victim-Offender Mediation Program in B.C.

It was in the Pacific Region, where for the first time in Canada, a partnership between CSC and the Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Association (CJI) in Langley, B.C. made mediation available between victims and offenders. The Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP) was created in 1989, when research with inmates in B.C. federal institutions and the victims of those offenders revealed a strong interest in the development of a mediation program designed for those affected by the most serious Criminal Code offences¹.

According to those responsible, VOMP focuses, at the post-sentence stage, on addressing the issues of accountability and healing for those involved in or affected by traumatic criminal offences. The “mediator” is not an intrusive intervener. VOMP staff see their role as that of respectful, supportive facilitators of therapeutic dialogue. The cautious (and often lengthy) assessment and preparation processes are therapeutic in nature and are informed by current theory and clinical practice regarding offender treatment and victim trauma recovery.

A formal evaluation ² in 1995 established that VOMP is highly successful in achieving its goal of providing a healing experience for both victim and offender. At that time, VOMP was the only program in Canada offering mediation/dialogue processes to victims and offenders in cases of serious and violent crime. Participation in the program was limited to victims who lived in B.C. or the Yukon and to offenders who were incarcerated or paroled there. For other provinces, requests for victim-offender mediation were administered through CSC’s Restorative Justice Division, which engaged the services of mediators on a contractual basis. Given the positive evaluation results and the growing demand from other provinces, in 2003, CSC, together with CJI, developed the Restorative Opportunities Program.

CSC’s Restorative Opportunities Program

Modeled on VOMP, the Restorative Opportunities (RO) Program has made victim-offender mediation services available across Canada since 2004. It seeks to address the harms caused by crime by focusing on the needs and issues of the people affected. The program focuses on having the offender take responsibility for his or her actions, while promoting empathy for victims, reparation and prevention of future harm. RO is a post-sentence program in which participation is voluntary for everyone concerned – victims, offenders and community members. It provides the opportunity for people affected by serious crime to communicate with the other party and try to address the harms caused with the help of professional mediators.

The program has developed to the point where an experienced team of 14 mediators provide services in all Canadian provinces.

For more detailed information on Restorative Opportunities, we invite you to read the program documents by clicking on the links provided on this page.

¹ GUSTAFSON, David L. and H. SMIDSTRA. Victim Offender Reconciliation in Serious Crime: A Report on the Feasibility Study Undertaken for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, Canada, unpublished report, 1989.

² ROBERTS, T. Evaluation of the Victim-Offender Mediation Project. Langley, British Columbia, Final Report, Ottawa Ontario, Solicitor General Canada, 1995.