NCJ Number
101105
Journal
Law and Policy Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1986) Pages: 7-32
Date Published
1986
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This analysis of mediation strategies and styles concludes that mediation seems to range between a bargaining process conducted in the court's shadow to a communication process which resembles therapy because of its focus on exploring and articulating feelings.
Abstract
This study was based on observation of over 40 mediators in 175 mediation sessions in a court-based program, a community action agency project originally developed by an anticrime group, and program that handled family conflicts concerning adolescents. Settlement strategies fell into four main categories: presentation of self and the program, control of the mediation process, control of the substantive issues, and activation of commitments and sentiments that would encourage settlement. Mediators empowered themselves by claiming authority for themselves, their task, or their program. Based on their differential use of these strategies, mediator styles fell along a continuum between bargaining and therapy. Charts, footnotes, and 24 references. (Author abstract modified)