Mediation Center of Charlottesville (MCC) is in the process of launching a Police-Referred Mediation pilot. This initiative will give residents of Charlottesville and the surrounding counties access to free mediation, conciliation, conflict exploration and restorative justice services through MCC. With funding from a U.S. Department of Justice grant we will provide free mediation services to individuals who are referred by local law enforcement. The goal of this program is to free up valuable police time from calls which are non-violent or non-actionable, or are simply repetitive nuisance-based calls that are inappropriate for police intervention, while also facilitating effective dispute resolution support to the callers. The Mediation Center of Charlottesville is part of a coalition that received this federal funding, under the sponsorship of Resolution Virginia.
MCC staff will train local law enforcement officers to identify issues that could be resolved through mediation, conciliation, conflict exploration or restorative justice, and to make service referrals to the conflict engagement specialists at the center.
The services provided are defined as follows:
Mediation – a process in which a trained mediator, impartial to the outcome of a conflict, facilitates communication between the parties and, without deciding the issues or imposing a solution, enables them to create a mutually agreeable resolution.
Conciliation (A Go-Between) – a process in which an impartial conciliator facilitates settlement of a conflict by clarifying issues and serving as an intermediary for negotiations in a manner generally more informal and less structured than mediation.
Conflict Exploration – a process where the conflict engagement practitioner only works with one party in a conflict. The practitioner explores with that party a range of options that have helped others in difficult situations and conversations. The party is then free to choose the approach(s) that may work best for their situation.
Restorative Justice (Accountability Conferencing & Victim/Offender Mediation)–a “victim” centered process that support offender accountability. A restorative conference brings together the victim and the victim’s family and friends, and others impacted by the offense, with the offender and his or her family and supporters, in a facilitated dialogue. The trained, neutral conference facilitators – who are also members of the community – provide a safe and confidential environment for participants to review the facts of the offense, learn how each person was affected, and decide how to repair the harm.
This project is supported by Grant No.14142965 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime and the SMART Office.
Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Partners include Virginia Tech’s Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention and participating law enforcement agencies.