Aboriginal Legal Theory and Restorative Justice: Part Two

Source: (1999) Justice as Healing 4 (1).

In this second of two articles, the author more sharply raises issues he sees in attempting to augment Western criminal justice systems with restorative justice practices. He perceives a real danger that reforms in the area of restorative justice will be a simple repackaging and relabeling of the existing criminal justice system. He believes these attempts may be used to deflect criticisms levied against the criminal justice system by the many reports and commissions, and that attempts at reform will come to be embodied within statistical data used to “prove” that restorative justice does not work. Hence, he maintains that the most appropriate place for restorative justice processes remains within separate Aboriginal justice systems existing within Aboriginal communities.