I am currently
researching Mediated Agreement Success with Dr. Pamela Struss of the School for
Conflict Analysis and Resolution. This is continued work that Dr. Struss has
done in the past. Mediation is the process of a third party intervening in a dispute
in the hopes to reach a resolution. I am studying the courtroom mediation
process in the State of Virginia. I am looking at the success rate of mediation
agreements in four jurisdictions for the years of 2014 and 2015; Alexandria
General District Court, Prince William General District Court,
Harrisonburg/Rockingham General District Court, and Amherst General District
Court. I am measuring whether an agreement was fully satisfied, or if an
agreement failed, based on whether the two parties carried out the agreement
completely. If a case was satisfied, it would have been dismissed whereas a
failed agreement would result in a judgment.
I
became interested in this project after taking a Mediation Certificate training
course with Dr. Struss last semester. I was interested in becoming a mediator
and the course allowed me to learn about courtroom mediation and the processes
of this in relation to the legal system. Dr. Struss told our class about her
past research on mediation agreement success in the State of Virginia for the
years 2012 and 2013. She was interested in continuing this research and I
became very interested as well. I thought it would be beneficial to apply what
I was learning in the classroom to a real life setting. I also thought this
would allow me to analyze the mediation process in the courts and if there
needed to be changes made to ensure a higher success rate.
On
a weekly basis I have been visiting the different courts and collecting their
mediation data from 2014 and 2015. I then take that information and use the
Virginia General District Court Online Case Information System to determine
whether a case has been satisfied or failed. I have also been looking at
current courtroom mediation processes, and how they can potentially be improved
to result in a higher agreement success rate. This week I finished analyzing
the Prince William General District Court agreement success and failure rate. I
found that Prince William has a higher rate of mediation agreement success than
Alexandria. I still need to collect the data for Harrisonburg and Amherst in
order to compare the numbers of these districts as well. After all the data is
collected, I will conduct a phone survey with a random sample of mediation
participants in these districts to determine why some agreements are satisfied
while others fail. I have been approved by the IRB to conduct this survey.
