NCJ Number
168147
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
Associate Chief Judge Murray Sinclair of Manitoba's Provincial Court (Canada) says that Aboriginal communities have successfully used community-corrections approaches to combat crime as an alternative to incarceration.
Abstract
Judge Sinclair notes that the Canadian justice system is becoming more remote from the communities it services. It is operated increasingly by professionals, such as police officers, lawyers, and judges, and the general public no longer feels it has any meaningful part in the process. Consequently, there is an ever-increasing reliance on imprisonment, resulting in the demand for more jails and more expensive security. Justice means nothing if the process does not belong to the community, the judge says, and communities must be allowed to have a larger role in the administration of justice. The judge advocates community-based corrections programs similar to those established in some Aboriginal communities. The Hollow Water First Nation, a Manitoba Ojibway community, has established a program that brings together the victim, the offender, the community, and the justice system in a way that avoids incarceration and achieves an effective community-based disposition. In this program, sexual offenders who plead guilty are no longer routinely jailed, but are placed on 3 years probation. Specially trained community members use an intensive, holistic approach to heal the offender, the victim, and their families. The result has been a reduction in recidivism rates. The judge advises that in an Aboriginal society, the purpose of justice is to restore peace and equilibrium or balance within the community, primarily by reconciling the accused with his/her own conscience and with the victims or their families.