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Juvenile Programming
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Victim Offender Conferencing Program The Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council oversees the Victim Offender Conferencing Program with in the community as valuable resource to both victims and offenders. Cases are primarily referred to victim offender conferencing in one of two ways. Either as a diversion from prosecution or by court order after a formal admission of guilt. In both cases a victim has to be a willing participant. Victim Offender Conferencing is a process that provides interested victims of crime the opportunity to meet the offender in a safe and structured setting, with the goal of holding the offender directly accountable for their behavior while providing important assistance and compensation to the victim. With the assistance of a trained facilitator, the victim is able to let the offender know how the crime affected him or her, to receive answers to the questions they may have, and to be directly involved in developing a restitution plan for the offender to be accountable for the losses they incurred. The offender is able to take direct responsibility for their behavior, to learn the full impact of what they did, and to develop a plan for making amends to the person(s) they violated. The first step in Victim Offender Conferencing is to meet individually with each of the willing parties involved in the incident. At that time the facilitator will go over the ground rules and questions to be asked at the conference, as well as answer any questions that the victim or offender may have. Once each individual meeting has taken place a date will be set for the conference. The conference will take place in a safe and neutral setting. Each party will have an opportunity to answer and ask questions. The ultimate goal is to reach a mutual written agreement determining the offenders obligations to make amends. The written agreement will be monitored by the facilitator to ensure all obligations are met successfully and in a timely manner. For more information on Victim Offender Conferencing contact:
Elaine
Carow
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