Victim Impact Curriculum

In the fall of 2005, Verna and Valerie began teaching their first Victim Impact class for the Tennessee Department of Correction on a “temporary” basis.  It took about six weeks to realize two things:

1. Victim advocates, in our desire to protect and help victims heal, had missed seeing the reality. Offenders were not being locked up forever. Offenders were coming back out, after spending years in prison, with very little intervention. They were not spending their time thinking about their victim, their crime, how they would never hurt someone again, or even contemplating how they ended up making choices that brought them to prison in the first place. Instead, they were thinking about how bad the food tastes, the inconvenience of not having certain cable programs, and how the system was unfair towards them. However, we began to see thoughts and attitudes change under victim impact programming. Offenders began to say, “I have been in prison for 25 years, and this is the first time I have ever thought about my victim.” They began to exhibit an understanding of what crime does to victims and those who love the victim as well as begin to show more insight into not only how they landed in those seats but how they planned to never return. Six weeks in to our first class we began to see that victim impact was turning on a light that allowed the offender to start their journey of healing and we were sold.
2. Victim Impact is also a personal journey. Each participant, as they enter class, completes a pre-test and demographic survey.  The true/false pre-test is administered again as a post-test upon the completion of class and measures the movement the participant has had in their understanding of victimization and impact of crime.  The demographic survey is a self-identifying tool that participants use to indicate the victimizations they have experienced.  Though they are in the class as offenders, it is understood that they must connect their own past victimization to their current decision-making process as means of an explanation, never an excuse, so they are able to begin the healing process towards no more victims.  It is impossible to teach these classes well and not experience personal growth and wisdom. The curriculum is challenging and dives into 10 different topics:
   • Accountability
   • Domestic Violence
   • Child Abuse
   • Sexual Assault
   • Crimes Against the Elderly
   • Homicide
   • Property Crime, Burglary and Robbery
   • Drug Addiction and Drug Dealing
   • DUI
   • Hate and Gang Crimes

Though the curriculum is designed to help the offender understand the impact their actions have had on others as well as the impact others’ actions have had on them, the facilitator will not remain untouched as accountability, the true mark of change, is woven into every lesson. Accountability is a critical skill to master for anyone in any kind of a relationship.

Victim Impact is versatile and can be used in a variety of settings including prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, on probation and parole, and as a diversion program for non-violent offenders. The curriculum is designed to be friendly with any facility structure, giving flexibility within the lesson to adhere to unique schedules and needs. The curriculum has been written to engage participants through discussion, written opportunities, videos, and hearing survivors. In addition, Stand Alone Units are available for programs targeting a specific topic. To find out more about these, please click here.

In the Nashville/Middle Tennessee area, Verna and Valerie are available to be hired to facilitate on-going classes. They currently teach two weekly classes at CoreCivic located at Harding Place. Additionally, they can provide train-the-trainer trainings for your staff/volunteers identified to teach this curriculum in your area. Please click here for more information about this opportunity.