Processing Citizens' Disputes Outside the Courts

Citizen dispute processing programs are becoming more common in the United States as an alternative to expensive, time-consuming litigation in court. Although no empirical evidence has been presented to date on the effectiveness of this type of mediation program, policy makers are calling for an increase in the number of such programs. This article reports on the results of an outcome evaluation of the Orange County (Florida) Bar Association's Citizen Dispute Settlement Project. The results indicate that complainants, respondents, and hearing officers are generally very satisfied with the hearings. In a three-week follow-up, complainant satisfaction increased, while respondent satisfaction stayed at the original high level. A quasi-experimental comparison of hearing and no- hearing groups of disputants indicated that mediation programs of this type may not be particularly effective for long-term solutions of underlying problems. The implications of these results are discussed for public policy-making and for theoretical refinement of the mediation concept.