<![CDATA[Mediation is mandatory in every civil case examined by an Indonesian court under Supreme Court Regulation (PERMA) Number 1 of 2016, yet divorce cases at the Gorontalo Religious Court Class I A continue to be resolved almost entirely by adjudication rather than by settlement. This article examines the effectiveness of mediation in resolving divorce cases at that court and identifies the factors causing the high rate of mediation failure. The study applies empirical normative legal research, combining statutory and conceptual analysis with field data obtained through interviews with the vice chief judge, mediator judges, the court registrar and former mediation participants, direct observation of divorce hearings, and documentary study of the court’s mediation reports for 2018 to 2022. The data are analysed descriptively and assessed against Soerjono Soekanto’s theory of legal effectiveness. The study finds that mediation is procedurally effective because it is conducted in conformity with PERMA Number 1 of 2016, but ineffective in outcome, since only 45 of 670 mediated divorce cases were settled. Four of Soekanto’s five elements are not satisfied. Failure is driven mainly by the parties’ entrenched intention to divorce, absence of good faith, limited mediator capacity, a single mediation room, and family influence.]]>
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