Resolving Conflict: Dispute Settlement Mechanisms for Aboriginal Communities and Neighborhoods?

• NCJ Number: 106768
• Author(s): K M Hazlehurst
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 16 pages
• Corporate Author: San Francisco Institute for Criminal Justice
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Presented at the Alternative Dispute Resolution Seminar, Austrialian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, July 1986.

Annotation

Modern community justice mechanisms or dispute settlement programs can be grafted upon customary or existing Australian Aboriginal methods of handling disputes.

Abstract

The Aboriginal dispute settlement process can have a complementary relationship with the criminal justice system, and it might be welcome as a diversionary alternative for minor offenses and disturbances of the peace. Potential lines of mediation, referral, and processing might include a judicial-formal system of courts, police, and settlement with Aboriginal participation by recruitment. A judicial-informal system with an Aboriginal community council and courts and Aboriginal 'police' answerable to the community council might be another alternative. A community-based, autonomous system of community dispute resolution centers with referrals to kin groups and community and religious bodies could be another system. Allowing Aborigines to manage and diffuse their own internal conflicts will heighten their negotiation with the general Australian society. 1 figure, 14 references, and 9 bibliographic citations.