Sensible Sentencing wrong about Family Group Conferences say expert

“Sensible Sentencing’s claims that victims of violent and sexual crimes have no wish to relive that experience at Family Group Conferences, is not supported by the research”, says Dr Gabrielle Maxwell, Consultant to the Rethinking Crime and Punishment project. Dr Maxwell led most of the early research into the effectiveness of Family Group Conferences.

“Victims of violent and sexual offenders want to meet the person who harmed them. They want to understand more about what motivated the offender. They want to find out how they happened to be the victim. They also want to know if there is anything they can do to ensure their safety in future.”

“Most of the victims who attend FGCs come away reassured in some way . Fears about future danger are allayed. They often realize that the offender is not really a dangerous person with a strong motive to harm them. Receiving an apology, realizing the young person was truly sorry, or that they were a random target can be very liberating. For this reason most people who attend family group conferences go away feeling better as a result. This finding is certainly true of victims of violent and sexual offences who attend.

The Trust’s view that Family Group Conference should be confined to first time minor offenders will do very little for their victims. Research shows that victims of minor crimes or people who were not personally affected by the damage done, are least likely to wish to take part. Institutional victims such as insurance companies or other business organisations also rarely wish to be involved.

It is also important to realize that victims can freely choose to attend a conference. They can have supporters with them. They can withdraw at any time. Victims are not compelled to attend; if they consider that they will be re-traumatised by the experience, they can stay away. Those who do find it a very healing process.

ENDS

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