It is known that several mediation models and techniques exist in different countries and according to the implementation contexts they either emphasize the negotiation aspect or the mutual recognition and contact between the parties involved in the conflict. This leads from a cold and formal technology of conflict resolution performed by a third party who applies rules to reach a would-be compromise (Ceretti, 2001) to a mediation process that can bring about a real transformation of conflict through the actual contact with the other party and taking into account relational, emotional and human aspects and attitudes.
We have often noted that mediation can be defined as an informal yet structured process, wherein the conflicting parties meet voluntarily with the assistance of a third impartial person who has the task to guide them toward the resolution of the conflict in which they are opposed. It is an informal process because mediation belongs to those conciliatory instruments of informal justice offering an alternative not only to court proceedings but to the idea of judgment, as efficient, inexpensive and above all "ethical" means of conflict resolution (Cosi-Foddai, 2003). Mediation, however, must also present a structured pattern with well defined stages, timescales and aims, so as to control and manage conflict and make all participants feel safe and adequately supported.
Any good mediation setting also needs a theoretical background providing the definition and implementation of flexible intervention models according for instance to the following issues::
- the assignor's request;
- the child's family background;
- the level of conflictuality;
- the age of the juveniles involved.
Moreover, it is obvious that, if one or both parties in mediation are minor children, any setting determination must take into account further issues as for instance their parents' role, function and attendance modes; or the role of the child's guardian, if any. Consequently, settings can be very different and present several degrees of flexibility and permeability reaching from the attendance of a "guarantor and observer" of the child's welfare to an activity according to specific court rules (Marzotto, Dallanegra, 1998). However, any mediation setting must present at least the following characteristics:
1. its purpose is to immediately recreate a new balance;
2. it focuses on future rather than on past;
3. its duration is defined in advance;
4. its objectives are mutually agreed and well defined;
5. it deals with the issues at stake according to a mutually agreed plan (between mediator and mediating parties).
Hereinafter we shall illustrate several settings where juveniles are directly (penal and school mediation) and indirectly (family mediation) involved.
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Tools in Network is a project of the Department of Juvenile Justice - Ministry of Justice of Italy in the framework of the Leonardo Da Vinci Education and Culture Lifelong Programme