Governing aboriginal justice in Canada: Constructing responsible individuals and communities through ‘tradition’

Source: (1999) Crime, Law & Social Change 31: 303-326.

In recent years there has been much discussion asserting the failure of Western criminal justice in relation to aboriginal people. In Canada, as in other places, this has led to advocacy for alternatives in more traditional forms of adjudicating crime. Andersen takes a critical look at this discussion. His examination covers the following areas: fundamental principles of aboriginal justice programs in Canada; the concept of governmentality, with its emphasis on alternative structures of power such as the community; the application of this idea of community to aboriginal justice through discourse about people as “responsible subjectsâ€?; the socio-political function of community with respect to self-governance and “traditionâ€?; and structures to address the potential “tyranny of communityâ€? in relation to offenders involved in aboriginal justice programs. Author’s abstract.