The Victim's Perspective

LRPT has produced a Victim Awareness Programme, based on a prison programme developed by H.M.P Ashwell and H.M.Y.O.I Glen Parva. Offender Managers can either introduce the victim’s perspective into general Probation supervision with an individual offender or groups of offenders can attend special victim work sessions.

The new Victim Awareness Programme aims to: -

• work with participants to challenge their underlying offending attitudes,
• review their past and present choices, and
• inform and educate on moral issues and responsibilities with a specific focus on victims.  

Example: THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Extract: Tutors show a clip of a bus driver who was assaulted whilst at work. The video clip discusses the impact it had upon him and the wider implications for family, friends and the community in addition to any witnesses of the crime. The account will cover both the long and short-term impact and the physical and emotional repercussions.

Tutors split the group into smaller groups and ask participants to create a ripple chart based on the video clip. They list all who have suffered both long and short-term consequences. Once the groups are finished, tutors take feedback and lead a group discussion around the answers.

The aims of this exercise are:

• To get participants to hear from a real person who has been a victim and begin to think about the wider impact of crime.
• To allow the individual to gain a greater understanding of their own behaviour and accept that their own offending creates victims, even though they may never see them.
• To think specifically about their current offence and all those it has harmed.