Restorative Justice and Victims > Victim Liaison Officers
The role
of victim liaison officer is varied and specific to
each individual and their needs. After a young
person is sentenced at court or has received a final
warning the victim liaison officer would contact the
victim by sending a letter and then making a follow
up phone call to arrange a home visit.
At the home visit the court order the young person
has been given will be discussed with the victim to
ensure they understand fully what the young person
will be doing throughout their order and how they
can be involved in the process. They will be offered
support and if they require further emotional help,
the VLO can refer the individual onto other
agencies.
The VLO ensures that the victim is given all options
available to make an informed decision on what they
would like to get out of the process. Often, this
would mean the victim liaison officer takes and
supports the victim through a youth offender panel
where they would meet face to face with the young
person to discuss the offence in a safe, neutral
environment. If the victim cannot attend the panel,
the victim liaison officer can facilitate a direct
mediation between the young person and the victim
with a second mediator, again in a safe, neutral
environment.
If the victim does not wish to meet the young person
face to face then the VLO can facilitate an indirect
mediation between the two parties. Indirect
mediation can take place at the young person’s panel
where the VLO takes a victim impact statement for
the young person to hear and potentially answer
questions the victim has for them. Other indirect
ways of communicating are through letters. Part of a
young persons order can incorporate a letter of
explanation that will be checked and forwarded onto
the victim via the VLO. If the victim wishes to
write back to the young person then this is a
possibility also.
We always
strive to improve our performance and better the
service we give to victims.
Written feedback is always sought to try and help
achieve this. The document below is just such a
feedback completed by the security manager of a
local store. It was completed following a direct
mediation session between him and a young person who
had stolen property from the store - the young
person used this as an opportunity not only to
account for their actions but to personally
apologise to the manager -
see
the document here
Case Study
In May 2010, a young person was convicted
of theft from a shop and criminal damage. The latter
offence involved the young person daubing offensive
graffiti on a house wall. Having received a Referral
Order from the local Youth Court, the young person
responsible in agreement with the house owner
carried out several supervised sessions at the
address to fully repaint the wall leaving it as good
as new.
The owner’s satisfaction can be seen in the
VLO
feedback and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures above
show the quality of the work done. Subsequent to
this direct reparation the young person carried out
a number of community/indirect sessions at the
Age UK
charity shop to address the shop theft matters.”
Click here to see a
Case Study on a reparation project in Netherthong
