We have lost a common, effective understanding of what the word Accountability means, or what it means to “hold offenders (or anyone) accountable.” Yet, Accountability is at the very heart of what Survivors need and want from Victim Impact Dialogues with offenders. This a place for comments, questions, experiences, or any observations you wish to share about victims/survivors, offenders, Victim Offender/Impact Dialogue, or any other relevant Victim-Centered, Offender-Accountability-oriented matters. If necessary, your identity can be protected at your request, but behind the scenes, we will need to know in confidence who you are and how to reach you, if you wish to post something here.
Why Offender Accountability MATTERS
Offender Accountability matters because, when offenders are allowed to evade the responsibility to explain themselves – to acknowledge WHAT they did, HOW they did it, and WHY they did it – they’re also allowed to escape the responsibility to think about and reflect upon the choices they made. This enables them to minimize and excuse… Read More
Victim IMPACT Dialogues: the VICTIM-CENTERED term for Victim Offender Dialogues
Let’s face it: the point and purpose of Victim Offender Dialogues, even Victim-Centered Victim Offender Dialogues, continues to elude consistent objective definition. The phrase continues to mean what beholders, whether victim advocates or offender advocates, want it to mean. This could be because the phrase itself almost directly implies that neither person participating in such… Read More
CREDO: What Offender Accountability MEANS
Offender Accountability is a willingness – or accepted obligation – to acknowledge and admit causing traumatic harm and loss and devastation to others, and to account for the actual choices to cause those harms. This means taking responsibility for, and explaining those choices – without excuse or evasion, as difficult as that may seem to… Read More