NCJ Number
170920
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1998) Pages: 58-74
Date Published
1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article explains the traditional Navajo justice process by using social psychology and Navajo discourse.
Abstract
In 1982 the judges of the courts of the Navajo Nation revived and institutionalized the traditional Navajo justice system. It is called "peacemaking" in English. Peacemaking is an indigenous Native American form of dispute resolution and a leading example of restorative justice. Restorative justice, unlike adjudication and the prevailing patterns of world criminal justice systems, views crime and offending as a conflict between individuals that results in injuries to victims. It promotes a process that seeks to reconcile victims and offenders and repair the injury caused to the victim and the community through the restorative involvement of victims, offenders, and communities. In the context of restorative justice as practiced by the Navajo Nation, this article examines the nature of offenders, some of the group dynamics or problems that are associated with crime, and individual psychological barriers or excuses usually offered by offenders. It also describes how Navajo peacemaking addresses these problems. An examination of the Navajo peacemaking process shows that its success is not in its concrete result or the actual remedy given, but rather is in an adjustment of the attitudes of the parties involved. Both offenders and victims begin with cognitive dissonance or related emotions that are based on assumptions and unreality, and the process leads them to common understandings. The parties frame the perspectives themselves; they are not guided by abstract rules in the law, which are imposed by outsiders. The parties talk out their problem and how they feel about it to gain empathy, and finally consensus on how to realign their relationships in a way that satisfies all the parties involved. 4 notes and 22 references