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The Effects of Participants' Ethnicity and Gender on Monetary Outcomes in Mediated and Adjudicated Civil Cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Gary LaFree  and
Christine Rack
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Abstract

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Researchers and policymakers have long been concerned about the extent to which such sociocultural factors as ethnicity and gender determine access to organizational rewards and constraints within legal systems. Scholars have also wondered whether less formal processes, such as those found in alternative dispute resolution, are especially susceptible to bias. To test these arguments, we studied the impact of disputants' ethnicity and gender on monetary outcomes in 312 adjudicated and 154 mediated small claims civil cases in Bernalillo County (Albuquerque), New Mexico, in 1990–91. Multivariate analysis including case characteristics showed that much of the effect of disputants' ethnicity and gender on outcomes—especially in courtroom hearings—was accounted for by the kinds of cases in which women and minorities were involved. Controlling for case characteristics eliminated ethnic and gender differences in adjudication, but some ethnic differences remained in mediated case outcomes. Specifically, cases including at least one Anglo mediator resulted in higher monetary outcomes for Anglo claimants, and minority female claimants received lower monetary outcomes in mediated cases in which both mediators were women.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , 1996 , pp. 767 - 797
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

Michele Hermann and Mary Beth West were the co-principal investigators for the original project on which this research is based and were primary contributors to both data collection efforts and the preparation of the final report (Hermann, LaFree, Rack and West 1992). The research was supported by Grant #G4-90-35 from the Fund for Research in Dispute Resolution (now handled by the National Institute for Dispute Resolution). We would like to thank the Mediation Alliance, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center and the Institute of Public Law for cooperation and support. We would also like to thank Edward Gilliland, Keiko Nakao, Ray Liedka, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.

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