Doran Dixon advocates more mediation to defuse disputes

Declaring that Jamaica is in a state of “perpetual anger”, Doran Dixon is encouraging more citizens to engage alternative dispute resolution services offered by the Ministry of Justice to work through disagreements.

“There’s too much anger everywhere and if we’re going to try to [fix] that and get rid of it, mediation and conflict resolution are critical,” the court mediator and former president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association said on Friday.

Dixon was speaking at Friday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of New Kingston, where he noted that citizens’ inability to resolve conflicts amicably have impacted the country’s crime rate.

“You just have to look around, feel the kind of anger that there is between everybody – road rage, domestic violence, interpersonal disconnect, young people and the police, employer and employee. All of that just comes out in terms of how angry we are as a society and sometimes it becomes deadly,” he said.

Stating that mediation involves resolving matters of the court in a less punitive manner, he argued that it should be considered more often.

“It’s an alternative to persons going to the formal court system. It’s cheaper because you don’t need a lawyer to facilitate mediation. It is more engaging, more relaxing, where you can have a little time to look at your opposing party and say, ‘Sorry ... . This is what happened. I’m willing to do this to correct what wrong I would have done to you’,” he told the Rotarians.

Dixon, in the meantime, lauded the different services offered by the Ministry of Justice in support of conflict resolution and mediation, adding that they, in turn, benefit the justice system overall. He pointed to the ongoing restorative justice initiative as well its child diversion programme as examples.

He also noted that considerable work has been done by the Government to strengthen lay magistrates’ courts.

Lay magistrates’ courts are adjudicated by justices of the peace, who are trained in criminal law and procedure, and act as judges in a court of law that deals with crimes that are less serious.

“The Government has gone as far as establishing an entity – the Dispute Resolution Foundation – to formally train mediators and manage the process of mediation,” he said.

Dixon is hoping that systems such as this will change the psyche of Jamaicans towards conflict resolution.

In the meantime, he outlined that there are two tiers of mediators – those who work in magistrate courts and those at the Supreme Court level.

“A judge, in his or her knowledge, determines sometimes that the issues at hand can benefit from mediation, and so they ask both parties if they consent to cases being sent to mediation in order to prevent the case being tied up ... [if they] can, in fact, benefit from the process of mediation,” he said.

This, he added, this will consequentially free up the courts to deal with more important matters.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com