NCJ Number
199562
Date Published
2002
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses ways anthropology provides insights that are challenging to proponents of restorative justice.
Abstract
The findings of anthropology from different eras and places suggest that restorative practices and attitudes can co-exist with punishment and violence. The findings lead to implications of grafting dispute resolution practices associated with traditional and ancient cultures onto the legal systems of contemporary nations. Restorative justice cannot replace retributive justice unless there is an understanding of the powerful dynamics represented by punishment, guilt, and spirit. Three ethnographic studies and studies of ancient Greek religion and penology are discussed. Nietzsche’s reflections on punishment and guilt and Rouland’s work on legal anthropology are drawn upon. There are a variety of positions in relation to punishment, guilt, and spirit in the handling of dispute. The gathering of material from different times and places suggests common themes. There is a weight of human knowledge and experience that has a bearing on attempts to create restorative systems of justice. Restorative justice recognizes and gives place to the feelings of rancor and anger of the community and the victim of crime, as well as the need for imposing social order. The problems with guilt have to do with the nature of guilt itself and the weight placed on the facts of the matter and the need for reconciliation. Mediation in modern societies is descendent from religion. In the past, restorative practices had elements of psychological foundation in the need to deal with powerful emotions of horror, revulsion, grief, anger, and resignation. 3 notes, 25 references