Contributors to this book explore the history and experience of the San Francisco Community Boards, an experiment in popular justice that is based on community mediation, and compare it to other popular justice projects around the world. The essays discuss the meaning of community, justice and empowerment in the context of community mediation and other forms of popular justice. The case study of the San Francisco Community Boards acts as a springboard for wider theoretical discussions regarding the possibility of popular justice in the context of state law.