New Directions in Restorative Justice

Chapter 5

Aboriginal justice and restorative justice

Jonathan Rudin

Abstract¹

Restorative justice initiatives now regularly acknowledge the influence that Aboriginal concepts of justice have had on their development. While there certainly are commonalities between restorative justice and Aboriginal justice projects there are also substantive differences that are not always as readily recognised. This chapter argues that there is a need to expressly recognise the distinct nature of Aboriginal justice programmes in order to ensure their survival as meaningful responses to community needs. The chapter addresses why there is a need for Aboriginal justice programmes at all, examines the types of initiatives that have developed in response to this ...