Program Profile: Clarke County (Ga.) Victim Impact Panels

This restorative justice program requires persons convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol to attend panels at which they listen to victims give short presentations describing the pain and loss they have suffered due to a drunk driver. The program is rated Promising. After 5 years, there was a statistically significant decrease in rearrests for participants, compared with those who did not attend.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals

The Clarke County Victim Impact Panels (VIPs) is a restorative justice program operated through the courts. The main goal of VIPs is to keep persons convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) from drinking and driving in the future. VIPs also allow DUI victims to express their personal trauma and share their story with convicted drunk drivers. Lastly, like other restorative justice programs, VIPs work to repair the harm done by the offense, both to the victim and the person who committed the offense Thus, they are not specifically condemned and punished, and victims play a role in the proceedings, rather than the state stepping in for them.

Target Population/Eligibility

This program targets persons with a DUI conviction. Since 1994, all individuals convicted of DUI in Clarke County, Ga., have been required to attend VIPs as part of their sentence.

Program Components

While other counties have VIPs, there is a great deal of variation in the implementation of the program. Clarke County VIPs are tightly monitored and scripted. Sessions are held at the county courthouse and range from 60- to 90-minutes; program participants must attend once a month. The panel consists of four to five victims of drunk driving. Each victim gives a 10- to 15-minute presentation of how a drunk driver had an impact on his or her life. Presenters range from those that simply tell their story to others who give dramatic presentations that incorporate photos, items, and memorabilia from the family members they lost due to drunk driving.

Failure to attend a session is equal to violating probation. Those persons were warned that if they missed a session, they could face a new court appearance and possible jail time. If an individual did miss a session, they were reminded of the consequences. This strict attendance policy resulted in very high attendance.

Program Theory

VIPs came out of the restorative justice movement, which is grounded in social control and community shaming. The focus of restorative justice is to heal those—both offender and victim—harmed by the offense rather than punish the who committed the offense for the sake of the victim. Those who commit an offense are not berated or scolded by victims during their presentation; the idea is to make them aware of the potential pain their actions can have. By forcing them to face the potential consequences of their actions, the belief is that they will be deterred from engaging in further drunk driving behavior.

Study 1

Rojek, Coverdill, and Fors (2003) used a quasi-experimental design to examine the effectiveness of the Clarke County Victim Impact Panels (VIPs) on rearrest for driving under the influence (DUI). Due to significant variation across counties in content and implementation, only Clarke County, where the program was carefully scripted and controlled, was examined. Starting in 1994, all persons convicted of DUI offenses in Clarke County were required to attend VIP sessions. However, county judges in Clarke County would not allow random selection into treatment groups because it would deny treatment to comparison group members. Therefore, researchers developed a comparison group out of people convicted of DUI from the previous year in the same county.

The treatment group was 404 individuals who were convicted of a DUI offense in the first 6 months of 1994. The comparison group was 430 people convicted of a DUI offense in the first 6 months of 1993. By creating the comparison group in this manner, these individuals had the same judges and the same fines imposed but did not attend the VIP sessions of the treatment group. The treatment group was 82 percent male, and 77 percent white and 23 percent Black. With regards to age, 44 percent were 16–25, 32 percent were 26–35, 19 percent were 36–50, and 6 percent were older than 50. The comparison group was 84 percent male, and 69 percent white and 31 percent Black. With regards to age, 34 percent were 16–25, 31 percent were 26–35, 28 percent were 36–50, and 7 percent were older than 50.

The researchers used bivariate cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics to examine differences between the treatment group and their constructed comparison group. Ideally, these two groups would be the same except for the treatment group attending VIPs. However, the two groups differ significantly by age, race, and prior DUI convictions. The treatment group was younger, more likely to be white, and less likely to have had a prior DUI conviction. These differences were controlled for in subsequent analyses.

All research subjects were followed for 5 years using the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) records. This system allowed researchers to track subjects’ criminal record and their driving history to look for any DUI arrests. During those 5 years, reporting practices and laws for DUIs did not change, and the NCIC system tracked subjects even if they moved out of Clarke County. Police bias and discretion were further reduced due to the DUI task force established in Clarke County in 1992. When any police officer came across a drunk driver, the DUI task force was called in and took control of the case.

Subgroup Analysis

Rojek, Coverdill, and Fors (2003) investigated whether victim impact panels (VIPs) in Clarke County affected some individuals more than others. According to their analyses, there is no evidence that the effects of VIPs varied by age, gender, race, or prior DUI conviction.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Rehabilitation Programs for Adults Convicted of a Crime

This practice includes programs that are designed to reduce recidivism among adults by improving their behaviors, skills, mental health, social functioning, and access to education and employment. They may become participants in rehabilitation programs during multiple points in their involvement with the criminal justice system. This practice is rated Promising for reducing recidivism among adults who have been convicted of an offense.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?