NCJ Number
85780
Date Published
1982
Length
105 pages
Annotation
Seminar discussions on community justice centers in New South Wales (Australia), intended to resolve disputes between parties in an ongoing relationship, indicate general support for the centers by practitioners but reveal some reservations with academics.
Abstract
Three pilot community justice centers were established by legislation in New South Wales out of the realization that the courts, which apply formal mechanisms to resolve a single issue, are ill-equipped to resolve multifaceted disputes between parties whose conflict grows out of an ongoing relationship. The centers are based on principles of noncoercion of the parties in both the initiation and continuation of the use of center processes and the use of mediation that involves the parties in devising their own solution to the dispute. Mediators are lay persons selected from the community on the basis of characteristics that facilitate their being effective mediators. Every effort is made to select a range of mediators that are representative of the community they serve. After 1 year of operation, assessments of the centers are generally favorable; however, critics fear that they may become arenas of second-class justice for the poor who do not have access to the authoritative benefits of the courts. There is some doubt too that the centers will succeed in being noncoercive, given their desire to build caseloads. Some see the centers as a piecemeal reform effort that avoids the comprehensive reform required to extend and expedite authoritative justice for citizens in the courts. For individual entries, see NCJ 85781-83.