Lee County Victim Offender Conference Program
The Lee County Victim Offender Conference (VOC) Program is a relatively new outgrowth of the Illinois Balanced and Restorative Justice Initiative. VOC provides victims with an opportunity to meet with first time young offenders as a diversion from court. In this article, Mary Huffman of Lee County Probation provides an overview of the development of Lee County VOC.
In 2001, the Lee County Probation and Lee County State’s Attorney offices established Lee County VOC as part of the fledgling Illinois Balanced and Restorative Justice Initiative. They began with a core group of individuals, including John E. Payne, Lee County Juvenile Judge; Linda Giesen, Lee County State’s Attorney; Kim Becker, Lee County Probation CMO; and Tom Schwamberger, Lee County Restorative Justice Officer. The group’s first order of business was to visit and research VOC programmes in surrounding counties and to attend conferences and trainings on conferencing. In 2002, the group met to formalize the programme structure and process.
In 2003, community volunteers were recruited for a conferencing training offered by members of the Barron County Wisconsin Restorative Justice Program. After completing their training, being sworn in, and undergoing fingerprinting and background checks, the volunteers began facilitating conferences.
Currently, the programme offers diversion for first time juvenile offenders who admit to the offence and agree to participate. The programme is victim-driven in that a conference cannot be held without victim agreement. As cases are received by the police department, the Restorative Justice Officer sends information letters to the victims with a questionnaire to determine their needs. Community volunteers then personally contact the victims to determine their interest in participating in a VOC.
If the victims are interested, the volunteers arrange a meeting time and place. After the conference is completed, a report is submitted to the Restorative Justice Officer so that he can monitor progress on any conditions agreed to in the conference.
One of the early VOCs, facilitated by Tom Schwamberger, involved a young man whose truck became stuck in a farmer’s field, causing significant damage to the field. Both parties agreed to participate in the VOC which was held in the basement of the courthouse. Mr. Schwamberger rode the elevator with the victim who was quite angry over the entire incident.
However, the VOC turned out to be a great success. The young man agreed to work the field for the farmer so he could gain a better understanding of the work involved in farming. The farmer realized that the young man did not intentionally tear up his field, but had gotten stuck in the mud and damaged the field trying to get out.
A more recent VOC involved a school principal and a student who became so out of control after being disciplined that the police were called in to make an arrest. During the VOC, the principal learned the student became agitated because he did not hear her instructions and thought she was the aggressor. They were able to discuss the incident and come up with a plan to help improve communication between them.
The Lee County VOC program has been very successful in diverting youth out of the court system and allowing them to encounter the crime victim as a real person. The process holds the juvenile accountable and restores the victim in ways that could not be done through conventional probation.
This year (2007) the programme conducted the first Court-ordered VOC, during which the victim was grateful to be allowed to express how the crime had impacted her life.
The beauty of the conference is that it promotes dialog between a victim and juvenile that would not take place otherwise and becomes part of the healing process. As a Probation Officer, I see this as a highly effective program that involves community volunteers as facilitators, responds to the needs of victims, and holds juvenile offenders accountable.
Mary Huffman
April 2007
