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Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program Annual Report, April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997

NCJ Number
175926
Date Published
1997
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This report describes the activities of New York's Community Dispute Resolution Centers during April 1996 through March 1997; this program is in its 16th year and is available as an alternative to formal court proceedings in every citizen in the 62 New York counties.
Abstract
A total of 41,392 cases involving 91,455 people were screened as appropriate for direct services by the centers. The centers conducted 23,173 conciliations, mediations, and arbitrations of these cases; these activities served 51,659 people. Parties entered into voluntary agreements in 77 percent of the matters that reached the mediation stage. Thirty-nine percent of the referrals to the centers came from the courts, 25 percent came from public and private agencies, 17 percent came from law enforcement, 8 percent were walk-in complaints, and 4 percent came from schools. The most common relationship between parties was client- agency. Twenty-nine percent of the cases involved allegations of breach of contract; 23 percent involved alleged harassment; 8 percent were interpersonal disputes; 8 percent were custody, support, or visitation disputes; 7 percent were housing disputes; 2 percent involved assault; and 5 percent were personal or real property disputes. A total of 12,723 cases involved a single hearing. Appended tables, figures, and program addresses