Victim Impact

Picture a juvenile correctional facility from the 1970s, one that houses offenders who committed murders, serious assaults, gang-related crimes, robberies, and sex offenses. Juvenile offenders are sent to the facility to participate in treatment programs. A visitor might find offenders playing ping-pong, lifting weights, or watching television. ?Is this the best we can do with offenders? Why can?t they learn about their victims and about the harm they caused?? The newly appointed director of the California Youth Authority (CYA) posed these questions in the early 1980s, triggering the development of a powerful and innovative program known then as the Impact of Crime on Victims (ICV). CYA staff asserted that traditional models of offender programming were ineffective in curbing delinquent behavior and that, subsequently, offenders returned to the community unchanged. Treatment programs at the time addressed what offenders needed: education, vocational training, substance abuse intervention, and life skills...