Restorative justice.

Source: (2001) Paper presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the course Psychology 48-410: Crime and custom (Professor G. George).

In her paper, Burkhardt raises challenges to the application of restorative justice to aboriginal or native communities, especially in Canada. In her view, restorative justice, if it is to be other than a set of ideas and practices inappropriately imposed from the outside by non-natives, must be adapted in light of native cultural, political, and economic realities. Only thus can restorative justice be applied in culturally appropriate ways in native communities. To support these ideas, Burkhardt reviews the development of restorative justice models; the “orientalismâ€? of restorative justice ideas; philosophies of crime and justice; cultural, political, and economic realities in native communities; and the utility of restorative justice models.