Peer mediation come forma di pre-ADR con funzione educativa e culturale: un confronto con la mediazione demandata in Italia

This paper offers a comparative analysis of court-referred mediation and university peer mediation within the framework of integrated justice. Starting from the premise that contemporary justice systems can no longer be identified exclusively with adjudication, the study adopts a pluralistic approach to conflict governance, in which jurisdiction, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and informal processes operate as coordinated components of a broader ecosystem of protection. Against this background, court-referred mediation and peer mediation are examined as functionally complementary but structurally distinct instruments, located at different stages of the life cycle of conflict and pursuing different objectives. Court-referred mediation is analyzed as an internal articulation of the civil process, aimed at integrating consensual solutions into judicial decision-making under conditions of attenuated voluntariness and procedural guarantees. By contrast, peer mediation is explored as a form of pre-ADR operating at a preventive and community-based level, with a predominantly educational and cultural function, designed to address relational conflicts before their legalformalization. The paper also highlights the risks inherent in both models, pointing to procedural formalism on the one hand and under-protection on the other, and argues that an effective model of integrated justice requires a clear functional distinction between conflict management and the protection of rights.