The Colorado Department of Corrections on Monday formalized its partnership with the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance to provide victim-offender dialogue in the prison system.

“We believe that creating opportunities for incarcerated men and women to take accountability for their actions not only helps the victim and the incarcerated individual heal and find grace, but it also makes our communities safer,” said Dean Williams, the CDOC’s executive director.

The department began victim-offender dialogues in 2011 and has held 20 such interventions between crime victims and their perpetrators. The dialogues are an opportunity to learn information directly from the perpetrator about their actions. Only the victim can initiate the face-to-face meetings.

“In Colorado, crimes eligible for the VOD process include those listed in the Colorado’s Victim Rights Amendment (VRA) such as murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, vehicular homicide, assault, and robbery,” COVA explains. “Currently, VOD is not available for victims and survivors of sexual assaults or intimate partner violence.”

COVA further clarifies that the process is oriented toward meeting the needs of the victim, and is not an automatic route to forgiveness. A form of restorative justice, the first such program debuted in the United States in 1978, although they are common in countries around the world.