Mediators and the Law: China and America Compared

Source: (1991) International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 15(1 & 2):81-88.

This article compares the differences between neighborhood justice in American and people’s mediation in China. In America, mediators are trained to avoid using law and legal concepts in mediation. In China, mediators are trained in the knowledge and application of the law. Chinese mediators do not have the power to enforce the law. Should disputants refuse mediators’ persuasion, mediators must use administrative mechanisms or social pressure to gain disputants’ compliance with the law. Chinese mediators are hampered by the lack of connection between mediation and the legal system, however, since disputants know mediators’ authority to enforce settlements in accordance with legal principles is limited.