Provided By U.S. Department of Justice

For Information Contact Public Affairs
Monday, July 31, 2000 Channing Phillips
(202) 514-6933

Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Wilma A. Lewis and Steven P. Dinkin, Director of the Community Dispute Resolution Center ("CDRC"), announced a new pilot project called "the Community Misdemeanor Mediation Service," a program designed to divert certain pre-arrest matters and selected post-arrest misdemeanor cases for mediation. Also joining in the announcement was Superior Court Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton who stated that he "was enthusiastic about having another criminal justice tool" to resolve criminal matters.

United States Attorney Wilma A. Lewis proclaimed, "this is the beginning of an exciting partnership between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Community Dispute Resolution Center that we believe has the potential of becoming an effective alternative to resolving minor disputes between parties. If successful, the project will benefit not only the involved parties, but the criminal justice system and the entire community at large."

Steven P. Dinkin, Director of the CDRC, stated, "the Community Misdemeanor Mediation Service builds upon the crime prevention efforts the District has already undertaken through such justice programs as community prosecution, community defense and community policing. The Mediation Service brings private citizen involvement and participation to the public law enforcement process saving the city valuable resources."

One primary objective of the partnership is to establish a mechanism whereby the USAO's Misdemeanor Section would divert for mediation appropriate post-arrest misdemeanor cases involving such charges as simple assault, threats, unlawful entry and destruction of property. The second primary objective is to establish a relationship between the USAO's Community Prosecution initiative and CDRC to divert pre-arrest matters for mediation in an attempt to prevent these matters from entering into the formal criminal justice system.

In other words, as Mr. Dinkin stated, "the Community Misdemeanor Mediation Service will receive cases once an arrest has been made, but will also work to resolve disputes before an arrest is made, before tensions escalate to violence, before individuals get a permanent mark on their record."

The U.S. Attorney's Office will initially review incoming arrest files to determine, based on criteria established solely by the USAO, whether or not cases are appropriate for mediation. The typical case for referral, whether pre- or post arrest, will involve parties who were acquainted with one another before the criminal incident and who have had disagreements in the past. Cases deemed not appropriate for mediation include: felony matters; cases involving serious injuries; domestic violence cases; or cases involving allegations of sexual or child abuse.

Once a case has been designated and the parties have agreed to mediation, the case file will be transferred to the CDRC for a mediation session which will involve the defendant and the complaining witness. At that session, a trained and experienced CDRC mediator will conduct the mediation. If the mediation results in an agreement, both the defendant and the complaining witness will sign an agreement stipulating the agreed upon terms. At this juncture, the case file will be returned to the USAO and the case will be dismissed. If the parties are unable to arrive at an agreement with the assistance of a trained mediator, the case file will be returned to the USAO for whatever action it deems appropriate, including prosecution.

In explaining why the partnership between CDRC and the U.S. Attorney's Office was formed and the pilot project implemented, U.S. Attorney Lewis stated that "we have a variety of different types of matters that find their way into the criminal justice system. In responding to this broad spectrum of matters, we must ensure that our criminal justice system does not adopt a ‘one size fits all' type of solution. Indeed, as we in the U.S. Attorney's Office -- through efforts such as our Community Prosecution Initiative, our Drug-Related Nuisance Abatement Task Force and otherwise -- evolve increasingly into problem solvers rather than mere case processors, we must continually seek to develop more effective means of resolving problems. We believe that the types of disputes and cases which will be diverted through the Community Misdemeanor Mediation Service might more effectively be resolved through mediation than through prosecution."

Ms. Lewis further stated, "it is an excellent opportunity for parties to work out their differences in a satisfactory manner while relieving some of the pressure from an already heavily burdened criminal justice system. If it works, the parties should benefit because the agreed-upon solution would hopefully result in a more long-lasting resolution of the matter. The criminal justice system benefits as well as it frees up judges, lawyers, and court personnel to spend their limited time on other matters that require their attention. And the community at large benefits if the parties come away satisfied and can put their dispute to rest."

The USAO and CDRC began this six-month pilot project on July 17, 2000, with the intent of continuing the project if it is deemed successful by both parties.