Decolonising Restoration and Justice: Restoration in Transitional Cultures

This article is a strategy for the comparative analysis of justice in various contesting forms. To identify useful levels of the comparative project, the colonising potential of restorative justice is examined. In this context the influence of formalised justice mechanisms over the less formal is explored, with examples in transitional cultures in the South Pacific discussed. Local and global potentials (and dilemmas) are identified for analysis. The integration of justice forms, both in terms of structure and ideology, is argued for. Notions of collaborative rather than restorative justice are advanced, in order that the intersection between state‐sponsored and customary justice forms is best appreciated.