A comparison of Canadian Native Youth Justice Committees and Navajo Peacemakers: A summary of research results

Aboriginal Youth Justice Committees and Peacemakers are unique court-related initiatives designed and operated by indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States. To develop a theory about the impact of colonialism on Native justice organizations, these two initiatives were examined in terms of their organizational structures, operational technologies, developmental issues, and ideologies. These two organizations were similar in their modified indigenous culture-based structures and in the developmental issues of resistance they faced. This suggests that a colonial-based social Darwinistic ideology had impact on their development. The organizations chose to respond using a discourse of organizational effectiveness rather than of discrimination, thereby not endangering their resource-dependent relationship with the state.