Article Summary
Charkoudian (2010) conducted a study on the effect of mediation on the use of court and police resources. Using self reported data on cases that were mediated compared to cases not mediated, this research finds that participants in mediated cases are less likely to decrease their use of court and law enforcement after mediation compared to participants in cases not mediated.
According to some estimates, there are more than 550 community mediation centers in the United States. These centers are either stand-alone nonprofit agencies or programs within other nonprofits, local governments, or colleges and universities. Most survive on some combination of public or private funds, and some do contractual work to supplement their operating budgets. Social values of community mediation include strong relationships, peaceful communities, and empowered citizens. Among the economic values of community mediation is more efficient resolution of conflict in the short run and lasting resolutions that prevent the need for court and police intervention in the long run.
Integration
The theory of community mediation discussed by Charkoudian (2010) is related to the third party intervention discussed in our textbook. When third parties intervene in conflicts, they become active participants in the parties’ interaction. Third parties make moves, initiatives that spark reactions and launch sequences of interaction. They also respond with counter moves, reactions to disputants’ moves. The third party is as vulnerable to the moment to moment influences of action and reaction as the disputing parties themselves. Although the conflict issues may be of more, or different, consequences for ht parties then the intervene, the conflict interaction has consequences for both: The interaction emerges as the product of the third parties and disputants’ actions, it has moment to moment effects on the third party’s moves, it shapes the third party’s interpretations of unfolding events, and it has relational consequences for the intervene.
Conflict in this study involved interpersonal conflicts, including neighbor disputes, family disputes, and small business disputes. Matters were referred to mediation from a number of sources. Some were situations in which misdemeanor criminal charges or small claims civil charges had been filed.
Application
Law enforcement agencies and court personnel should increase the number of cases referred to mediation to realize the potential resource savings. Community mediation centers should use these results as they work to build creative partnerships with police, courts and other agencies. Centers can uses these results to match many individual police officers’ or judges experience, to develop stronger and more creative partnerships to increase the number of people who receive mediation services. Community mediation centers can also use these results as they work to secure funding from public and private sources.
Although research indicates mediation agreements tend to be durable, this stability is more clearly proven in agreements involving a “single act” such as a monetary payment, and there is less conclusive evidence showing durability in cases involving an “ongoing web of interactions.”
References
Charkoudian, L. (2010). Giving Police and Courts a Break: The Effect of Community
Mediation on Decreasing the Use of Police and Court Resources. Conflict Resolution
Quarterly, Vol. 28(2), 141-154.
