Conferences
The Center for Dispute Resolution hosts conferences on a variety of topics related to dispute resolution.The Seventh John A. Speziale Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium
"Achieving the Goals of Criminal Justice: A Role for Mediation?"
Oct. 15, 2010
Quinnipiac University School of Law
The goals of the criminal justice system are numerous, complex, and often debated. The system seeks to deter, punish, incapacitate, and rehabilitate wrongdoers. The traditional processes for accomplishing these goals -- involving police, prosecutors, public defenders and the criminal defense bar, judges, prisons, probation, and parole -- are constantly undergoing review and procedural reform. Only occasionally, however, do reformers question the underlying adversarial relationship between defendants and the state, or consider whether traditional prosecution, adjudication, and incarceration are the optimal processes for accomplishing the goals of criminal justice.
This symposium will take up these questions, asking whether prosecutors, judges and the criminal courts could more efficiently and effectively achieve the goals of criminal justice by supplementing traditional adjudication with mediation and other alternative processes. The Connecticut Bar Foundation and the Quinnipiac Center on Dispute Resolution will convene a distinguished group of judges, legislators, mediators, law professors, and other experienced professionals to discuss and debate the use of mediation in criminal cases. What sorts of cases are most amenable to diversionary programs? What training or expertise is necessary to administer and facilitate these processes? What effect do mediation programs have on recidivism, court dockets, and participant satisfaction (including victims' satisfaction)? The symposium will consider programs for adult and juvenile offenders, both in Connecticut and in other states.
Janine Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and now distinguished professor of law and director of the Restorative Justice Initiative at Marquette University School of Law, will deliver the keynote address. Through plenary panels and breakout sessions, participants will learn about alternative processes being used in the criminal justice system, including community courts, victim-offender mediation, and post-conviction mediation to assist with prisoner reentry. Over the course of the day, the symposium will strive to 1) convey new and important information to participants and policy makers at every stage of criminal law enforcement and 2) stimulate thought and discussion about the ways mediation might supplement traditional processes to better achieve the system's goals.