By Dr. Charlene Berquist, Director, and Heather Blades, Associate Director
The Center for Dispute Resolution’s Victim Impact Panel Program for Youth has been helping youth recognize and internalize the impact that crime has on people and communities for over 10 years. Yet this spring COVID-19 put a stop to in-person meetings, making the offering of this program impossible – at least in the traditional way! Read on to learn how the CDR responded to meet a pressing community need while keeping volunteers and youth safe and socially distanced.
About the VIP Program
The VIP program is offered for youthful who have committed offenses and referred by the Greene County Juvenile Office. The program uses storytelling, dialogue, and reflection to help young people understand and explore the impact that crime has on individuals, their family and friends, and their community.
In the past the program convened every 6 weeks. During sessions volunteer facilitators (who were CDR interns or campus or community volunteers) met with a small group of youth and over the course of 2 evenings the kids learned about the impact of crime and talked with community volunteers who’d been the victims of the types of crimes kids commit.
Program Adjustments Due to COVID-19
The spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent stay-at-home orders has made meeting in person for the VIP program impossible. However, there is still a pressing need for youth to explore the impact of crime generally, and their own offenses in particular, in order to help them recognize how their actions impact others and plan alternate behaviors in the future.
In response the CDR has modified the VIP program – instead of youth gathering in a group they meet individually with a volunteer facilitator via phone or video conference. In this meeting they explore the various types of harm that happens when crime occurs, and then together the youth and the facilitator view an online documentary about a real life crime and identify examples of the types of harm they just discussed. Following this the facilitator and youth talk together about the offense committed by the youth, who was impacted by it, and what alternate actions the youth could take in the future. Following the session youth write an essay about what they have learned, which is submitted to the Juvenile Office.
Impact of the “Virtual” VIP Sessions
The CDR is currently conducting research on the impact of the “virtual” VIP sessions and how this modified program compares to the traditional face-to-face VIP program. Early results of this research indicate that the modified program has been successful in a number of ways. “Virtual” VIP facilitator and social work graduate student Kelsey Quick shared that “In every session it is evident that the youth are open to discussion and engaged in the process.” The structure thus far has worked well for youth of a variety of ages, and Kelsey added that “overall the youth seem even more involved in the virtual sessions than in the traditional program.” Families have also reported that the ease and flexibility of scheduling sessions is something they appreciate.
Heather Steinbach, Victim Witness Coordinator for the Greene County Juvenile Office, expressed her office’s appreciation for the CDR’s innovative program approach: “The Juvenile Office greatly appreciates CDR and their ongoing work of making the VIP program available to our youth and families. The VIP program does an excellent job of teaching empathy to the youth we serve by providing a safe place to learn how their choices affect others. The Juvenile Office is very grateful for the adaptability of CDR during COVID-19 to create a virtual VIP program so our youth and families can still have access to this fantastic program and all it has to offer.”
The CDR will continue evaluating the impact of the modified “virtual” VIP program throughout the summer and will then make decisions about potentially restarting face-to-face sessions or continuing to offer virtual sessions in the fall.