Unit 13: Making Amends: Victim Impact: Listen and Learn - OVC
Unit 13: Making Amends
The primary goal of the curriculum is to prevent further victimization by helping offenders become aware of the impact of crime on victims and entire communities. It is important for participants to acknowledge their wrongdoing, confront themselves, and make amends for the harm they have caused.
Time Required: 2.5 hours
Facilitators are encouraged to provide the opportunity for “the next step.”
- What Is ...? This section covers concepts of making amends, forgiveness, and paying restitution and provides definitions of relevant Words To Know.
- What Is Your Definition of Accountability? Exercise.
- What Chapter Had the Most Impact Exercise. (20-minute writing activity.)
- Group Discussion. Participants share thoughts about making changes in their attitudes and behavior.
In addition to these sections, this unit includes a choice of several exercises for completing the course. As a final step, have participants take the Pre-/Post-Test again.
Unit 13 Additional Exercises:
- Crime Impact Statement (writing activity)
- Accountability Letter (participants write a letter to someone they have hurt by their choicesâ€”other than a victim)
- Community Service (small-group activity)
- Restitution Payments (participants estimate out-of-pocket expenses suffered by their victims and make a plan for repaying losses)
- In-Custody Victimizing Behavior (group discussion)
- Victim Empathy (writing activity)
- Ripple Effect (group activity)
- Participants show increased awareness of the impact of crime on victims.
- Participants acknowledge the harm they have done and begin to make amends.
To download files, right click on the file and select "save target as."Training Manuals
- Facilitator Manual (Unit 13) (PDF, 430 KB)
- Participant Workbook (Unit 13) (PDF, 271 KB)
*PDFs of the full curriculum are in the Presenter's Toolbox.Tools
- Pre-/Post-Test (PDF, 106 KB)
Video clips for the full curriculum are in the Presenter's Toolbox.Need Help Downloading?
Important! Read the facilitator's materials available on the right of your screen well before presenting the course to your audience. These materials contain preparation instructions essential to an effective training. (All other unit-specific materials and tools also are available at right.)
Create a folder for Victim Impact on your computer and download all the files you will need into that folder rather than using this Web site during the training.