“Effects of race, sex, and victims’ reasons for victim-offender dialogue.”

Source: (2009) Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 27(2):215.

This study focuses on victim-offender dialogue files archived by Ohio’s Office of Victim Services (OVS). The OVS director was interested in knowing why only one in four initiated dialogue files complete actual face-to-face dialogue. Victim offender dialogue programs based on restorative justice theory have been shown to increase victim and offender satisfaction, decrease offender recidivism, and increase the rate of restitution. An archived data analysis on a sample (N = 212) of OVS completed and will-not-proceed files revealed offender race did not have a significant effect on dialogue completion rate. However, victim sex was found to have a significant effect on dialogue completion. Included are descriptive analyses of victims’ stated motivations for seeking dialogue. Victims who state specific motivations for participation in dialogue were no more likely to complete dialogue than those who did not. Results lead to several suggestions regarding other uses of restorative dialogue in the contexts of severe crime and felonies. (author’s abstract)