The story below was written by a young woman who, together with her mother and father, participated in a dialogue facilitated by myself, Dave Gustafson, and Susan Underwood, another of our long-term and highly valued CJI staff facilitators, in a nearby prison last December. One quiet evening at …
Participant Stories
Apologies
“…the power of it, it goes so deep…it almost makes your heart stop, when you’re forgiven for something you didn’t think you should be forgiven for” (Dan, a VOMP participant reflecting on the impact of the process and the facilitated dialogue with his victim, Emily). One of the joys of having …
Free to Live
The following story begins with what Allison, a past participant in CJI’s Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP), called her “speech”, her presentation to the May 2011, Police Victim Services Conference in Burnaby, BC. She has given us permission to reproduce it here. We do so gladly, …
Unfinished Business
We often remark that there is no such thing as a ‘usual’ VOMP case, that each is unique in its own way. ‘Kari’s’ story is a case in point. What is not unique about Kari, is that she is one of an entire category of people harmed by crime but whose stories usually go untold. Victims of …
A Tale of Two Mothers
Two mothers, that's what we were... two mothers, alone with our pain. Not to say we didn't have people around us, we did. When the jury went into deliberation we could hear the quiet chatter of the reporters, police officers, family and friends echoing in a void we could not touch. And then, one …
