NCJ Number
82921
Date Published
1981
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from an evaluation of the Orange County Bar Association's (Fla.) Citizen Dispute Settlement Project (CDS) as an alternative to court.
Abstract
CDS, which began in late 1975, recruited hearing officers from the Bar Association. The primary objectives of the evaluation plan associated with the project were to monitor both the types of clients and the types of complaints and to measure the effectiveness of the hearings. To monitor the types of clients and the types of complaints, a client intake form was developed from a standardized form in general use in the Orange County criminal justice system. To measure the effectiveness of the CDS hearings, a two-part plan was developed. The first part of the plan involved ratings made at the conclusion of all hearings. Complainants, respondents, and hearing officers made two ratings: their degree of satisfaction with the settlement just reached and their judgment of the likelihood that the problem which occasioned the conflict had been solved. The second part of the evaluation involved drawing a random sample of complainants for a followup bout 2 weeks after the hearing. This report is based on data collected between January and October 1976. A total of 306 complaints were presented for settlement during this time. The largest categories of complaints were harassment (28.5 percent) and simple assault (19.7 percent). A total of 306 complaints were heard, and overall, complainants, responondents, and hearing officers were satisfied with the solutions reached and optimistic about the likelihood that the problem occasioning the complaint was solved. High satisfaction ratings continued to be reported in the followup. Tabular data, two notes, and two bibliographic listings are provided.