Participant Experiences

A young man was killed in a car crash caused by his best friend driving drunk. At the victim/offender dialogue, the young man’s mother forgave the offending driver, and then invited him into her family. The two of them agreed to go public and give talks about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Two girls, formerly best friends, get in a fight at school and one suffers over $20,000 in hospital expenses. After an emotional reconciliation during the victim/offender dialogue involving both girls’ families, they agreed to share responsibility for medical costs.

A young man takes his brother's car, drinks a few beers, drag races, and crashes into an electrical transformer box, cutting power to a mall and several blocks of houses for two days. The young man discusses the impact of his actions face to face with representatives of the electrical company and one of the businesses and agrees to pay realistic restitution amounts, do community service work and present his story four times during the following year before electrical company staff.

Four young students, bored during Christmas holiday, break into two local schools and steal a computer, TV and other items. The boys sit down with a school principal who knows some of them from middle school, and explains the hassle of cleaning up the mess following the break-in, the fear left in the teachers who sometimes worked late, and the loss of items that still had not been replaced. The boys apologize and agree to pay restitution and complete all the terms required by probation, which include community service. The principal accepts their apology and hugs and encourages them as they leave.

A young man under the influence of drugs breaks into a house and steals a rifle, leaving the house in disarray. At the victim/offender dialogue, the victim explains the horrible impact the crime had on his family but encourages the young man to put the crime behind him and move on. The two agree to be in contact regularly so as to help the young man take the responsible path in his life going forward.

A young man gets angry at his alternative school and throws a printer into a glass window. At the victim/offender dialogue, the school principal and classroom teacher forgive his outburst and offer him to come back to the school and help other kids with anger issues. The young man offers to give the school his new printer in exchange for the broken one, as the teacher never got a replacement. The school district forgives the costs of the window repair in exchange for his completing his court ordered community service.