NCJ Number
168137
Date Published
1996
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes the range and nature of customary approaches to justice practiced among a number of American Indian tribes and how these approaches have influenced the current administration of tribal justice.
Abstract
Among American Indian tribes certain themes characterized the ways used to constrain and respond to antisocial behavior. Authority for decisionmaking regarding social deviance was grounded in the wider social group, and approval to pursue any particular course of actions against offensive behavior was achieved through tribal consensus. Although by current standards of sentencing, tribes use a more benign approach to crime and misconduct, there was some tradition of physical punishment, often extreme. A number of tribes throughout the United States have continued to rely upon certain aspects of their traditional practices for administering justice. In other cases, tribes have reformulated and reintroduced practices that were dropped following colonization. One example is the use of restitution as an alternative to traditional dispositions in the juvenile court of the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin. The key to the success of this program has been its ability to tie the restitution orders and activities to the traditional values and mores of the tribe. Another example of the current use of traditional tribal approaches to justice is the Peacemaker Courts of the Navajo. Their structure and procedures are designed to preserve, protect, and encourage the use of traditional methods of dispute resolution. These courts have limited jurisdiction to hear local civil disputes.