Tim Hansen no longer lives in Dakota County, Minnesota, but makes the 30-mile trek there from Minneapolis a few times a year to give back to the community where he grew up.  As a volunteer for the Dakota County Department of Community Corrections' Victim Offender Conferencing Program, Hansen sits down with offenders and their victims to help both parties sort through their issues - face-to-face.

"I think it's incredibly important to give victims options in regard to how they can seek justice when harm has been done against them," said Hansen, who is trained to facilitate meetings between victims and offenders.

While Hansen donates his time to Dakota County, he works full-time as a Restorative Justice Planner for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.  He believes in programs like Dakota County's because they hold offenders accountable directly to the people who they have harmed.

Forcing offenders to take responsibility for their crimes is an important piece of the program, said Ruth Fonstad, a Dakota County probation officer who oversees the program.

"Oftentimes, the offenders don't really comprehend [the impact of their crimes] until they hear it from the victims," said Fonstad.  "Then it really means something.  They can put a face to it.  That is when you get some real remorse."

While the program helps offenders gain a sense of understanding of the harm they have caused, it is primarily focused on the victims, according to Fonstad.  She said the goal of each conference is to provide victims with a forum for expressing how they feel about what has happened to them and how it affected their lives.

Fonstad also pointed out that many people who have been violated by an offender are fearful of being re-victimized or are concerned that the offender targeted them specifically, which most times is not the case.  The conferences help the victims to move beyond those worries, she said.

"When you put a face to the offender it makes it a little bit less intimidating, less scary for the victim," said Fonstad.  "The victims usually will come out of that feeling a whole lot better."

For the most part, Dakota County's program concentrates on juvenile offenders.  Julie Angeles, a supervisor in the Community Corrections Department who also facilitates conferences, said that many times, victims are more willing to participate in a program like this when it is a juvenile who committed the crime.

"Frankly, more victims are willing to try to do something to help juveniles," said Angeles, pointing out that, sometimes, victims have more hope that they can impact a juvenile's behavior as opposed to an adult's actions.  "Nine times out of 10, what happens at the end of a conference is that the victims end up coming over to hug the kids and say, 'I forgive you and I want you to do better.  I want you to turn out to be a good kid and I want you to learn from this.'"

To prepare both the juveniles and victims for the conferences, the volunteer facilitators set up individual meetings with each party prior to the joint session. 

According to Angeles, the facilitators provide both sides with a journaling booklet before the conference to help them gather their thoughts about the crime.  This is particularly helpful with male juvenile offenders who may have a tough time talking about their feelings, she said.

"It helps them organize their thoughts about what they are thinking and feeling and want to say," Angeles said.

As a facilitator, Angeles said that her job is to assess how the two parties are feeling and if they are truly ready for a meeting like this. She said that she is careful about not gathering a victim together with an offender who really does not want to go through this process.

"It's basically getting a reading from them as to where they are at.  You don't want to put the victim and the offender together if the offender has a bad attitude.  [You] don't want the offender to feel beat up or the victim to be re-victimized," said Angeles.  "I make it real clear that this isn't about going in and hurting people.  It's about trying to start healing."

Angeles added that it is important for her to prepare both parties for this meeting, so that she knows how each person or group of people is feeling and what they plan on saying to the other side.

"The way I know that I have done a good job preparing is that there [are] no surprises," said Angeles.

After prepping the parties for their conference, Angeles said the idea is for the two sides to communicate with each other during the meeting, while the facilitator plays a very inconspicuous role.

"If it's a good conference, I sort-of disappear into the woodwork," said Angeles.  "It just turns out to be a conversation between the two sides."

Angeles explained that the goal of the meeting is for that conversation to lead the offender to understand and take responsibility for his or her actions.  After the meeting, she said she hopes that victims, too, have some clarity about the incident that has occurred and can begin to put it in the past.

"Ultimately, that is the perfect facilitation - if people walk out and they feel healed and they feel whole again," said Angeles.  "Usually, that is not going to happen, [but if I] facilitate some movement towards that, then I feel it's a success."

At the present time, Dakota County's program is working at a bare minimum with about 20 volunteers and no full-time staff dedicated to it, said Fonstad.  But still, she is happy to have the program up and running at this point, since it was put on hold two years ago.

In the future, though, both Fonstad and Angeles hope the program will grow.

"We did face some [budget] cuts, but I hope the pendulum will swing back and I hope we can get more volunteers to work in the program because it's very worthwhile," said Angeles.  "We do a good service for victims by having this program, and [for] offenders, too."

Resources:

For more information about the program, call (952) 891-7151