Source: (1996) In: B. Galaway and J. Hudson (eds.), Restorative Justice: International Perspectives. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, pp. 137-156.
This essay discusses the pre-colonial Maori concepts of justice. This system, in the eyes of the British colonists, seemed to encourage disorder and crime and was inconsistent with emerging European concepts of individual responsibility, demand for order and certainty in punishments, replacement of corporal punishments with imprisonment, removing punishment from public view. But Maori practices are being restored, to some extent, in contemporary New Zealand regarding youthful offenders through family group conferences that involve meetings with the youth, his or her family, and victims to work out a satisfactory resolution to the offense. Using Maori concepts when responding to adult offenders is discussed.
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