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The Transformation of Justice: Hofrichter's Neighborhood Justice and Harrington's Shadow Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Abstract

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Type
Symposium on Informal Dispute Resolution
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 1988 

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References

1 See American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Program Directory (Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association, 1982); National Institute for Dispute Resolution, Dispute Resolution Resource Directory (Washington, D.C.: National Institute for Dispute Resolution, 1984); Jonathan Marks, Earl Johnson, Jr., & Peter Szanton, Dispute Resolution in America: Processes in Evolution (Washington, D.C.: National Institute for Dispute Resolution, 1984); American Bar Association, Help, Not Hassle, Dispute Resolution Centers: The Nation's Newest Growth Industry, 69 A.B.A. J. 19 (1983).Google Scholar

2 See Frank Sander, Alternative Methods of Dispute Resolution: A Selected Bibliography (Chicago: American Bar Association, 1982), for an early list of some influential work. Various law reviews have published special symposia on ADR, and several new publications such as the Negotiation Journal, Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, and the Missouri Journal of Dispute Resolution specialize in ADR issues.Google Scholar

3 Gibbs's and Nader's work were influential in this regard. See James Gibbs, Jr., The Kpelle Moor: A Therapeutic Model for the Informal Settlement of Disputes, 33 Africa 1 (1963); Laura Nader, Styles of Court Procedure: To make the Balance, in Laura Nader, ed., Law in Culture and Society (Chicago: Aldine. 1969).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 See, e.g., Edgar Cahn, & Jean Cahn, , What Price Justice?: The Civilian Perspective Revisited. 41 Notre Dame Law. 375 (1966); Richard Danzig, , Toward the Creation of a Complementary. Decentralized, System of Criminal Justice, 26 Stan. L. Rev. 1 (1973); Richard Danzig, & Michael Lowy, , Everyday Disputes and Mediation in the United States: A Reply to Professor Felstiner, 9 Law & Soc'v Rev. 675 (1975); Eric Fisher, Community Courts: An Alternative to Conventional Criminal Adjudication. 24 Am. U.L. Rev. 1253 (1975): Mauro Cappelletti, , ed., Access to Justice (4 vols. Milan: Guiffre; Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978–79); Warren Burger, Our Vicious Legal Spiral. 16 Judges'J. 23 (1977); Warren Burger, Introduction. Symposium on Reducing the Costs of Civil Litigation, 37 Rutgers L. Rev. 217 (1975).Google Scholar

5 Success rates of various ADR institutions depend on which institution is studied, what criteria for success are evaluated or highlighted, and with what an ADR forum is compared. At best, the efficacy of ADR institutions in the aggregate is mixed. See, e.g., Jane Adler, Deborah Hensler, & Charles Nelson, Simple Justice: How Litigants Fare in the Pittsburgh Court Arbitration Program (Santa Monica. Cal: Rand. 1983); Deborah Hensler, Albert Lipson, & Elizabeth Rolph. Judicial Arbitration in California: The First Year (Santa Monica, Cal.: Rand, 1981); H. Kritzer & Jill Anderson, The Arbitration Alternative: A Comparative Analysis of Case Processing Time, Disposition, Mode, and Cost in the American Arbitration Association and the Courts, 8 Justice Svs. J. 6 (1983); Jessica Pearson, An Evaluation of Alternatives to Court Adjudication, 7 Justice Sys. J. 420 (1982); Jessica Pearson & Nancy Thoennes, Mediating and Litigating Custody Dispures: A Longitudinal Evaluation. 17 Family L.Q. 497 (1984); Howard Erlanger, Elizabeth Chambliss, & Marygold Melli, Participation and Flexibility in Informal Processes: Cautions from the Divorce Contest. 21 Law & Soc'y Rev. 585 (1987); Craig McEwan & Richard Maiman, Mediation in Maine: An Empirical Assessment, 31 Maine L. Rev. 237 (1981): Craig McEwan & Richard Maiman. The Relative Significance of Dispute Forum and Dispute Characteristics for Outcome and Compliance, 20 Law & Soc'y Rev. 439 (1986); Neil Vidmar, The Small Claims Court: A Reconceptualization of Disputes and an Empirical Investigation, 18 Law & Soc'y Rev. 515 (1984); Neil Vidmar, An Assessment of Mediation in a Small Claims Court, 41 J. SOC. Issues 127 (1985).Google Scholar

6 See Sally Merry, Defining “Success” in the Neighborhood Justice Movement, and Leonard Buckle & Suzann Thomas-Buckle, Doing Unto Others: Dispute and Dispute Processing in an Urban American Neighborhood, both in Roman Tomasic & Malcolm Feeley, eds…Neighborhood Justice: Assessment of an Emerging Idea (New York: Longman, 1982); Laura Nader and Christopher Sugart, Old Solutions for Old Problems, in Laura Nader, ed., No Access to Law (New York: Academic Press, 1980).Google Scholar

7 See, e.g., Roman Tomasic, Mediation as an Alternative to Adjudication: Rhetoric and Reality in the Neighborhood Justice Movement, in Tomasic & Feeley (cited in note 6).Google Scholar

8 This point is stressed by David Trubek, in Turning Away from Law? (review of Jerold Auerbach's Justice Without Law!) 82 Mich. L. Rev. 284 (1984).Google Scholar

9 See Owen Fiss, , Against Settlement, 93 Yale L.J. 1073 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Richard Hofrichter, Neighborhood Justice and the Social Control Problems of American Capitalism: A Perspective, and Christine Harrington, Delegalization Reform Movements: A Historical Analysis, both in 1 Richard Abel, ed., The Politics of Informal Justice: The American Experience (New York: Academic Press, 1982). See also Richard Hofrichter, Justice Centers Raise Basic Questions, 2 New Directions 168 (1977).Google Scholar

11 See, e.g., Stanley Cohen, , The Deeper Structures of the Law or “Beware the Rulers Bearing Justice”: A Review Essay, 8 Contemp. Crises 83 (1984); J.M. Fitzgerald, Thinking About Law and Its Alternatives: Abel et al. and the Debate over Informal Justice, 1985 A.B.F. Res. J. 637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 On the notion of legal pluralism see John Griffiths, What Is Legal Pluralism?, 24 J. Legal Pluralism 1 (1986). For an interesting empirical examination of legal pluralism in a complex industrial society see Stuart Henry, Private Justice: Towards Integrated Theorizing in the Sociology of Law (London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul, 1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 See also Maureen Cain, Beyond Informal Justice, 9 Contemp. Crises 335 (1985); Stuart Henry. note 12; Bonaventoura de Sousa Santos, Law and Community: The Changing Nature of State Power in Late Capitalism. 8 Int'l J. Soc. Law 379 (1980); Carol Greenhouse, Praying for Justice (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. 1986).Google Scholar

14 See his work at supra note 10.Google Scholar

15 Although Shadow Justice was published prior to Neighborhood Justice, Harrington's book responds to earlier versions of Hofrichter's argument in print. See supra note 10.Google Scholar

16 Auerbach's work is an exception, although his historical and political emphases are different from Harrington's. Jerold Auerbach, Justice Without Law? (New York: Oxford University Press. 1983).Google Scholar

17 Maureen Cain, supra note 13. See also Maureen Cam & Kalman Kulcsar, Introduction: The Study of Disputes. in Cain & Kulcsar, eds., Disputes and the Law (Budapest: Akademiai Kindo. 1983).Google Scholar

18 This is especially important since it is evidently still possible to publish a book on ADR that largely ignores this context. See Sally Engle Merry, , Disputing Without Culture, review of Goldberg, Green & Sanders' Dispute Resolution , 100 Haw. L. Rev. 2057 (1987).Google Scholar

19 On the need for a critical tradition that is both theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich see Susan Silbey & Austin Sarat, Critical Traditions in Law and Society Research, 21 Law & Soc'y Rev. 165 (1987); see also David Trubek, , Where the Action Is: Critical Legal Studies and Empiricism, 36 Stan. L. Rev. 575 (1984).Google Scholar