NCJ Number
118343
Date Published
1989
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study of the Children's Hearings Project in Cambridge, Mass., designed to address status offenses and parent-child conflicts through mediation, suggests that mediation which is an adjunct of the existing criminal justice system continues the use of the State's power as the ultimate source of social control.
Abstract
Ultimately, children must go to court if their parents have charged them with being status offenders, so going to mediation is a choice between that process and the court process. The parents, once they have voluntarily sought the court's help, must continue to pursue its suggested solutions until the court agrees to dismiss the case. Even though the mediation process is different from court procedures, parents and children usually come to it assuming that it is a court service. Within this political framework, mediation can provide a service which facilitates the acquisition of negotiation skills by the working-class clients of the judicial system under the direction of educated, idealistic, middle-class volunteers. Such a structure has the potential for infringing the rights of weaker parties, manipulation by mediators, subtle forms of coercion, and the possibility of an extension of middle-class control over the working class. 4 notes, 11 references.