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Victim offender communication in felony cases: An archival analysis of Ohio's Office of Victim Services dialogue program

Borton, Ian M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1213195868

Abstract Details

2008, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Communication Studies.
In this dissertation, I studied victim offender dialogue files archived by Ohio's Office of Victim Services (OVS). The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction runs OVS. The Office of Victim Services has processed 349 individual dialogue cases. The OVS director was interested in knowing why only one in four initiated dialogue files complete actual face-to-face dialogue. I conducted an archived data analysis on a sample (N = 212) of OVS completed and will-not-proceed files. Victim offender dialogue programs are typically based on restorative justice theory and, compared to traditional criminal justice processes, have been shown to increase victim and offender satisfaction, decrease offender recidivism, and increase rates of restitution. I posited two hypotheses regarding offender race and the effect of time on dialogue completion. Chi square and Fisher's exact tests were conducted and indicate that neither offender race nor the passage of time had a significant effect on dialogue completion rates. However, a victim's relationships to the offender, victim sex, and the dialogue file initiator were each found to significantly impact dialogue completion rates. I also include descriptive analyses of victim motivations for seeking dialogue. This research has implications regarding relational communication, conflict mediation, and restorative justice theory. Finally, I offer several suggestions regarding OVS practices as well as other uses of restorative dialogue in the contexts of severe crime and felonies.
Lynda D. Dixon, PhD (Advisor)
Srinivas R. Melkote, PhD (Committee Member)
Stephen M. Croucher, PhD (Committee Member)
Colleen J. Mandell, PhD (Committee Member)
120 p.
Communication; Criminology; Sociology
restorative justice; dialogue; VOM; mediation; victim; offender; intimates; conflict

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Borton, I. M. (2008). Victim offender communication in felony cases: An archival analysis of Ohio's Office of Victim Services dialogue program [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1213195868

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Borton, Ian. Victim offender communication in felony cases: An archival analysis of Ohio's Office of Victim Services dialogue program. 2008. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1213195868.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Borton, Ian. "Victim offender communication in felony cases: An archival analysis of Ohio's Office of Victim Services dialogue program." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1213195868

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1213195868
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© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.