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2003 Neighbour mediation and ASB
This page contains an outline of this research, and a summary of the key findings. Details of how to find the full report can be found at the bottom of the page.
Title
“The Role Of Mediation in Tackling Neighbour Disputes and Anti-Social Behaviour”, Scottish Executive Social Research
What is it about?
The objectives of the researchers were to compare the costs and effectiveness of mediation and legal interventions in dealing with anti-social behaviour, and to examine why some disputants do not agree to the use of mediation.
Who did it?
The research was carried out by Alison P. Brown, Aileen Barclay, Richard Simmons and Susan Eley at Stirling University. It was commissioned by the Scottish Executive and published in 2003.
The researchers looked at 100 neighbour disputes in autumn 2002 from two community mediation services and two in-house local authority mediation services dealing with neighbour disputes. To compare costs, additional data was provided by local authorities, police records, environmental health officers and housing associations on 50 cases where legal action was taken to deal with anti-social behaviour.
Key findings
- The largest category of disputes concerned complaints about domestic noise from music systems, televisions and laminate flooring. The second major cause for complaint was the behaviour of children, including noise, arguing, fighting, littering and vandalism.
- The main referral route for most participants was their local housing officer, who was often aware of the difficulties between neighbours.
- In a total of 61 % of cases the mediation service recorded a positive outcome, in that either the problem was resolved or there was some improvement in the situation, either with or without mediation.
- Participants’ perspectives of the outcomes did not always reflect that recorded by the service, particularly in terms of longer term outcomes. There was a generally positive view of the process, although a number of participants found the process more traumatic than expected.
- In 28 percent of the cases agreement was reached on all presenting issues.
- In 39 percent of cases, mediation was refused or did not produce a positive outcome.
It is interesting to note that the primary reasons found for refusing mediation were:
- unwillingness to engage with the other party
- fear of reprisals
- a belief that the other party did or would manipulate the process or the mediators
- fear of an escalation of the dispute
- the desire for a definitive judgement on their case
Lack of awareness of or familiarity with mediation, or lack of confidence in the process, did not appear to be significant factors in refusals.
- From the 100 mediation cases studied, the average cost of handling a case was £121, which rose to £204 when face-to-face or shuttle mediation was involved; the maximum case cost was £484.
- From the 50 legal cases, the average cost was £3,546, with a range from £339 to £13,692 for a very complex eviction case. (NB these are net costs and would be considerably higher if overheads were included.)
- Average costs of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and repossession actions were approximately £2,250 and £9,000 respectively.
NB There are two key issues to bear in mind:
- First, all the legal action cases studied involved serious and protracted anti-social behaviour, often including fighting, verbal abuse, swearing and damage to property. In many cases, there was a history of criminal convictions and/or mental health and/or alcohol-related problems. These cases in general were much more serious than those found in mediation services.
- Secondly, mediation was found to be one part of a process of intervention. Disputes are therefore not necessarily dealt with either by mediation or by other methods – a range of interventions, including mediation, are often employed in one case. Informal negotiations may precede mediation, and formal intervention may succeed it if mediation does not bring resolution. Informal intervention may or may not increase the chances of successful mediation. Informal intervention is likely to sift out cases unsuitable for mediation. Criminal or other civil legal proceedings may (but not necessarily) prevent a dispute from going to mediation. It is therefore impossible to compare like with like when looking at outcomes and costs in cases resolved through mediation or legal intervention.
The research team made three main recommendations:
- greater awareness and information about mediation and closer working with housing, police and mediation services
- robust monitoring and evaluation of mediation services
- more detailed research into the use of mediation in serious, complex cases, and into the long-term outcomes of ASBOs
Key websites
Scottish Executive mediation research
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