Conferences for victims, offenders eyed

BANGOR – Penquis Community Action Program expects to offer victim-offender conferencing in the near future, thanks to a grant that will enable its mediators to receive the training necessary to perform the service.

Funding for the training is provided in part from the National Association for Community Mediation, through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Once trained, the mediators, who provide mediation services through the agency’s Penquis Dispute Resolution Center, will offer victim-offender conferencing in Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington counties.

Victim-offender conferencing is a face-to-face meeting in the presence of a trained mediator between the victim of a crime and the person who committed that crime. Through a mediated discussion, offenders learn the impact of, take responsibility for and are held accountable for their actions. Victims communicate directly with the offender, ask questions and help determine what needs to be done to “make things right.” Participation is strictly voluntary.

According to Tamar Mathieu, managing director of the Penquis Dispute Resolution Center, victim-offender conferencing has been offered in Cumberland and York counties since 1995 with success. The project strives to make victim-offender conferencing more widely available in Maine.

“Studies have shown that victim-offender conferencing reduces recidivism, or the re-offense rate, by approximately 32 percent, and those who do re-offend commit lesser crimes,” said Mathieu. “In addition, there tends to be a high rate of victim satisfaction and the majority of victims report that they would participate in victim-offender conferencing again.”

The Penquis Dispute Resolution Center provides mediation services to address conflicts between parents, teens and co-parents, and landlords and tenants. Its services also are utilized for neighborhood and workplace disputes, and for conflicts involving clients and service providers of the Maine Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services. For more information, call 973-3617.