“Restorative Justice and Civil Society in Melanesia: The Case of Papua New Guinea.”

Source: (2001) In Restorative justice and civil society, eds. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 99-113. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Numerous problems (e.g., increasing crime and violence, deterioration of government services, corruption, and political instability) point to a crisis of governance for Pacific Island countries, and a need for fundamental institutional and policy reform. With this in mind, Dinnen considers the prospects for restorative justice in Papua New Guinea (PNG), particularly in connection with the development of civil society structures. This study covers the following matters: an overview of Melanesian societies; the colonial experience in those societies; efforts at institutional modernization to support newly-independent countries, independence and the growth of crime, with state responses to crime; and possibilities for restorative justice solutions to criminal justice and social problems.