Firstly, the balance of power is not utterly one-sided, like it is with a child/adult situation.

Ask Ross about that. Balance of power can be very one-sided in adult interactions. And children have more 'power' then you realize when it comes to making accusations against adults

Secondly, both parties are usually at least in the same ball park when it comes to reasoning and explicative capacity.

Again, ask Ross

but it is quite different

The situations are quite similar. You have people with enormous power making life and death judgement decisions. What's different is that in one case there are controls over that power to try to ensure that good judgment prevails, in the other, there is not.