Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

themselves from mainstream culture. The following
section describes a conflict resolution program in a
juvenile justice setting in California.
The Community Board Program
In 1987, with support from California’s Office of
Criminal Justice Planning, the Community Board
Program began to explore how the Conflict Manager
(peer mediation) program might be implemented
in juvenile treatment facilities, known in
some jurisdictions as “ranches.” In California and
other States, these county-operated facilities are
the last opportunity for the rehabilitation of serious
and violent juvenile offenders before they enter
the Youth Authority, the juvenile equivalent of
the adult prison system.
Over time, unresolved conflicts can affect the entire
facility. They consume the time and energy of
counselors, extend the sentences of wards, lower
the morale of counselors and wards, and make the
atmosphere tense and anxious. The Conflict Manager
program helps everyone involved deal with
conflict more effectively.
Our wards are here in part because they
have experienced conflict in their lives and
did not know how to resolve it appropriately.
The Conflict Manager program teaches
these young men the skills to approach a
conflict in a mature manner and resolve it
in a socially acceptable fashion.
Superintendent, Harold Holden Ranch for
Boys, Morgan Hill, California
The heart of a Conflict Manager program is a faceto-face
meeting between the disputants in which
they talk about their problems with the help of
conflict managers, who are wards of these facilities
selected and trained to serve as mediators for their
peers. Throughout the conflict management process,
the disputants are required to take responsibility for
the problem and its solution. The conflict manager’s
responsibility is to help the disputants communicate
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more effectively and understand one another’s point
of view. The disputants then come to their own
agreement, one they are more likely to keep. The
objectives of conflict management are to rebuild or
establish a positive relationship between the disputants
and gradually spread the belief in and use of
peaceful and constructive conflict resolution skills
throughout the facility. 2
Voluntary Participation
Participation in the program is voluntary. Wards
may be referred by a counselor to see the conflict
managers, but once there, they have the choice not
to participate, with no penalty for their decision.
Wards have this choice because conflict management
requires the active participation of both disputants.
If both are committed to finding a resolution
to their problem, both will work hard to express
their points of view and listen to each other. This is
impossible if one party does not want to participate.
Because conflict management is voluntary, it is
never a replacement for disciplinary action. If wards
are offered conflict management as an alternative
to punishment, their motives for participating may
be clouded and the process ineffective. The goal is
to provide early intervention for peaceful problem
solving before rules are broken or conflicts escalate.
When wards break facility rules, staff take the usual
disciplinary steps. Afterward, they can suggest
meeting with conflict managers to express and resolve
core issues and avoid further conflict. In this
way, the Conflict Manager program supplements
rather than replaces the regular disciplinary system.
Types of Disputes Handled by Conflict
Managers
Conflict managers are equipped to handle many of
the day-to-day disputes that arise in a juvenile facility
setting, such as name calling, serious “horseplay,”
and conflicts over things in short supply—time at
the pool table or in the weight room, a chance to
watch a favorite television program, the attention
of a popular counselor, or access to supplies such
as toiletries.