Reno Praises Resolution of Disputes Without Courts

U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, speaking at a convention here, called finding ways to resolve conflicts without lawyers and courts one of the key challenges of the 21st century.

Mediators, arbitrators and ombudsmen cheered Reno as she championed their efforts to offer “better solutions, more creative solutions and more long-lasting solutions” to the often bitterly divisive conflicts of average Americans.

“You are teaching this nation how to resolve disputes without guns and knives and fists,” Reno told 700 people at the 24th annual conference of the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolutions at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers. “Too often costly litigation leaves people worse off than if they had never gone to court in the first place.”

For increasing numbers of Americans, generally the young and poor, courts and attorneys are no longer an option, she said.

“Between 60% to 80% of the poor and working poor in America have no access to lawyers, much less the courts. To them the law is worth little more than the paper it is written on,” Reno said.

Professionals say the mediation and arbitration industry is “mushrooming” in the United States and in Europe because of the increasing costs of litigation and overwhelming caseloads in the courts.

Sharon Peelor, a mediator and staff member for the nonprofit Institute for Conflict Management in Orange, said arbitration often leaves all parties satisfied. Her group, one of three in Orange County, operates under the auspices of the St. Vincent de Paul Center for Community Reconciliation.

“We think face-to-face meetings between the parties involved is very effective. It’s based on the philosophy of restorative justice,” Peelor said. “It’s not based on punishment, but based on taking responsibility and correcting what’s wrong. It also gives the victim a real voice and a say in what happens, which is not necessarily true in the criminal justice system.”

But that system, too, can play a role in conflict resolution. Community policing programs can become important avenues to resolve disputes, she said.

“We’re trying to develop a new spirit in policing that reaches out to the community, establishes priorities and resolves conflicts before they get started,” Reno said. “A community police officer can be an important player, by such things as manner, by body movement, sometimes just by sitting down and talking about it and saying we can work it out. . . . Why wait until the crime is committed, until somebody is gunned down?”

Reno’s nearly 45-minute speech was interrupted by applause several times.

“She was superb. She was direct and to the point,” said Lucinda Sire, a mediator from Dana Point. “We need much different approaches, like less emphasis on litigation and more on problem solving. It’s a big positive step.”

Reno appeared to be speaking from the heart, said Susan Carpenter of Riverside, a professional mediator for 25 years who was co-chair of the conference.

“You could tell she has seen the negative side, the other side, of what happens when you don’t have these procedures,” Carpenter said.