Vol. 28, No. 6 #8 (December 2005). Peacemaker Court: The Traditional Alternative.

• Author: By Andrew W. Baldwin

Wyoming Bar Journal

2005.

Vol. 28, No. 6 #8 (December 2005).

Peacemaker Court: The Traditional Alternative

WYOMING LAWYERDecember 2005/Vol. XXVIII, No. 6Peacemaker Court: The Traditional AlternativeBy Andrew W. Baldwin

Debates about how to reform the American legal system to better meet the needs of children and families have spawned the emergence of drug courts, mandatory counseling programs, increased dispute mediation, family courts, and other important efforts. While some of these are relatively new to the Anglo-American judicial system, American Indian tribes have maintained traditional ways of resolving and healing disputes which already provide much of the benefits sought by these reforms. The Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming has codified support for its traditional dispute resolution system in what many tribes now call a "Peacemaker Court." The Eastern Shoshone Tribe of Wyoming recently took similar legislative action.

Traditional American Indian justice has been described as "horizontal." It emphasizes problem-solving on a wider basis than just the individuals involved in a specific event, pulling in families and community to address underlying causes of behavioral problems. Peacemaking allows for discussions about why a crime occurred, why the people involved took the action they did, and what should be done to repair the damage. Participation is like "sitting in a circle," where each person shares in both the problem and the solution. "Peacemakers," or trusted community elders, lead a mediation process toward solutions which are as broad or as narrow as they need to be to address the root problem. It is not only a specific dispute "resolution," but also a broader dispute "solution." By comparison, the Anglo-American system relies on a hierarchy of power that reaches from judge, to litigant, to probation or social programs, and has been described as more "vertical" in its approach.

Historically, tribal systems have gone "underground" because of pressure from non-Indian governments to use only the Anglo-American model for resolving disputes. Suppression of traditional Indian culture was the official policy of the United States for most of its history. The right to free worship on Indian reservations, for example, was not fully recognized by the federal government until 1934 (Federal Agencies Task Force...