NCJ Number
94681
Date Published
1984
Length
107 pages
Annotation
An assessment of the Cleveland Prosecutor's Mediation Program's first year of full operations (June 1982 through May 1983) documented a high level of user satisfaction, a decrease in citizen-filed cases entering the local justice system, and reduced workloads for prosecutors, courts, and the police.
Abstract
The mediation program was structured to serve as an alternative to the local criminal justice system for dealing with disputes involving family members, friends, neighbors, or acquaintances. This report first describes the program's impact on the local courts' caseloads during the report period and contrasts it with the 1980 caseload. It then presents information on the mediation program's operations, including the intake component, hearing activities, and followup. Participants are profiled according to sex, age, race, marital status, and place of residence. Other sections discuss the evaluation's methodology and the results of a survey of 130 citizens who had either brought complaints to the program or had responded to complaints brought against them. In summary, the mediation program screened approximately 13,700 complaints during the first year and provided direct services to about 17,400 residents. Of these complaints, 56 percent were scheduled for mediation hearings, while the rest were either resolved by the intake component, referred to more appropriate criminal justice or community agencies, or were authorized for a warrant. Dispositions in those cases requiring a mediation hearing were reached within 15 days from the date the complaint was brought, compared to 105 days required by the courts. Approximately 85 percent of the survey respondents who used the program were satisfied with the agreement reached, and 68 percent said they would use it again to resolve similar disputes. The number of citizen-filed warrants entering the court system on misdemeanor charges was reduced by more than 50 percent compared to the base year of 1980. Additional operational and statistical information on the program and the evaluation is appended.