"He went from being a monster to a person:" Using narrative analysis to explore how victim-offender dialogue (VOD) participants transform through the VOD process.

This article examines the transformative experiences of participants in victim-offender dialogue (VOD), a restorative justice (RJ) practice that facilitates facilitated conversations between individuals who have caused harm ("offenders") and those harmed ("victims"). Using narrative analysis of longitudinal interviews with a dyad involved in a VOD process following a decades-old murder, the study found that the dialogue "cracked open" the humanity of both parties, with religion and forgiveness serving as key vehicles for transformation. The victims' perception of the offender shifted from seeing him as a "monster" to recognizing him as a human being worthy of compassion, while the offender moved from resisting personal transformation to embracing a sense of responsibility and connection. The findings highlight the complex, reciprocal nature of healing in VOD, underscore the nuanced role of shared Christian faith in this case, and suggest that expanding such dialogue processes may foster individual and community healing, while calling for further research across diverse populations and faith traditions.