THE POLITICS OF PARTICIPATION AND NONPARTICIPATION IN DISPUTE PROCESSES

Although the access to justice movement has placed great emphasis on expanding participation in dispute processing through informal mechanisms, little theoretical or empirical research in the area has explored the relationship between the organization of dispute processing and legal participation. This article develops a framework for investigating that relationship by examining the ideological and organizational structure of participation and nonparticipation in a comparison between mediation and prosecution of minor criminal cases. The analysis suggests that the concept of participation associated with informal mechanisms has played a role in transforming the institutional legitimacy of dispute processing, yet patterns of participation in conventional dispute processes are reproduced in the neighborhood justice center.