Source: (1995) Saskatchewan Law Review. 59:431-435.
This author is of the view that the visions that have shaped Western and Aboriginal approaches to justice are so fundamentally different that obedience to one almost automatically requires a breach of the other. Seven such differences are presented and discussed in this article. The differences include: (1) viewing people as the product of their webs of relationships, (2) realizing that we are not all equally capable of choosing to change our anti-social behavior, (3) focusing on disharmonies, not just acts, (4) utilizing justice processes that reduce antagonism, (5) aiming to convince people they are more than their anti-social acts, (6) holding someone responsible using non-blaming processes, and (7) belief that solutions are best provided by the people actually involved. Each difference represents one of the philosophical foundations of the restorative justice visions of Aboriginal people.
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