NCJ Number
100222
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1985) Pages: 447-471
Date Published
1985
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Two 'popular justice' institutions in the Soviet Union and Poland, people's assessors and social courts (workers' courts and residential tribunals), are assessed by the standards of these countries' national ideologies and Western concepts of 'popular justice.'
Abstract
People's assessors and social courts are steps in the evolution within communist ideology recognizing the need for a gradual introduction of informal formats of conflict resolution in coordination with progress from 'socialist' to 'communist' society. Two people's assessors (lay judges) sit with one professional judge in court to hear and decide cases in concert with the judge. Social courts have three lay judges, who are elected by work crews (when mandated to judge factory disputes) and residents (when mandated to resolve neighborhood disputes). Sanctions are educational, not punitive, and may not include confinement. Although social courts are called 'workers' courts, they do not protect workers' rights, voice their values, or resolve their conflicts. They enforce the 'correct' standards of the party. People's assessors are nominated by the party and are generally dominated by the judge's influence; thus, they tend to reflect dominant party ideology in their decisions. These institutions do not reflect Western concepts of 'popular justice,' which emphasize diversity, reciprocity, and flexibility in resolving conflicts as well as independence from the dominant control ideology. 51 references.