Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

LAW & SOCIETY‘Will the Circle be Unbroken?’Aboriginal Communities, Restorative Justice, and the Challenges of Conflict and ChangeJane Dickson-Gilmore and Carol La PrairieEmbraced with zeal by a wide array of activists andpolicymakers, the restorative justice movement hasmade promises to reduce the disproportionate ratesof Aboriginal involvement in crime and the criminaljustice system and to offer a healingmodel suitable to Aboriginal communities.Such promises should bethe focus of considerable criticalanalysis and evaluation, yet thiskind of scrutiny has largely beenabsent. ‘Will the Circle beUnbroken?’ explores and confrontsthe potential and pitfalls of restorativejustice, offering a much-neededcritical perspective.Drawing on their shared experiencesworking with Aboriginal communities,Jane Dickson-Gilmore and CarolLa Prairie examine the outcomes ofrestorative justice projects, paying specialattention to such prominent programs asconferencing, sentencing circles, and healing circles.They also look to Aboriginal justice reforms inother countries, comparing and contrastingCanadian reforms with the restorative efforts inNew Zealand, Australia, and the United States.‘Will the Circle be Unbroken?’ provides a comprehensiveoverview of the critical issues inAboriginal and restorative justice, placing these inthe context of community. It examines the essentialrole of community in furthering bothAboriginal and non-Aboriginal aspirations forrestorative justice.Jane Dickson-Gilmore is an associate professor inthe Department of Law at Carleton University.Carol La Prairie is a consulting criminologist and aformer senior researcher with the Departmentsof the Solicitor General and Justice of theGovernment of Canada.Of related interest:‘In a field riddled with the rhetoric of do-goodersand moral entrepreneurs, Jane Dickson-Gilmore and Carol La Prairie have provided aserious advance in the research and some muchneededcritical perspective with ‘Will theCircle be Unbroken?’ It is a must for allwith a stake or an interest in Aboriginaland restorative justice.’Jean-Paul Brodeur, École de criminologie,Université de MontréalRecovering CanadaThe Resurgence of Indigenous LawJohn Borrows0-8020-8501-6 / £20.00 / $32.95 / 2002Indigenous Difference and the Constitution ofCanadaPatrick Macklem0-8020-8049-9 / £18.00 / $30.95 / 2001Approx. 320 pp / 6 x 9 / May 20053 figures; 4 tablesCloth ISBN 0-8020-8922-4 £40.00 $60.00 EPaper ISBN 0-8020-8674-8 £20.00 $29.95 CShield with Feathers. Courtesy Getty Images.55