Restorative justice: a substantive, intergenerational and ecological approach in the Amazon Region of Brazil

ABSTRACT

From the report of a case in which restorative justice references were used to address a conflict involving chestnuts gathers and family farmers in the Brazilian Amazon, the article reflects on the conditions of applying restorative justice concepts and procedures to treat socio-environmental conflicts. Restorative philosophy adopts a substantive vision concerned with an intergenerational and ecological ethic that can contribute to the realization of justice and the sustainability of peace in Amazonian scenarios. In order to face an alienating vision that disregarding human multidimensionality, the authors suggest a holistic understanding of reality that understands nature as part of what we are, that we inhabit, with which we are ineluctably interconnected and that is impacted by human actions, especially those of apolitical character and economical. This comprehending leads them to an ecological and intergenerational perspective of restorative justice that transcends the de-identification of humanity with nature. Understood in this way, restorative justice implies responsibility towards human beings and nature. This means looking for solutions that meet not only the needs of the actors directly and indirectly affected by a particular offense; in addition to intersubjective issues, it concerns the satisfaction of demands for social justice and environmental conservation, inviting humanity to render intergenerational accounts. The article concludes that an ecological and intergenerational view of restorative justice requires exercises of imagination and effective practice capable of facing the tangles of the humanity-nature relationship within extended perspectives that account for considering the multidimensionality of the human experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Restorative justice
• socio-environmental conflicts
• Amazon
• Brazil

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Area built entirely using wood on the banks of the Jari River, on top of which reside thousands of families who settled there due to the activities of the Jari Project. The company town of the forest management project is located on the other bank of the river, housing mainly company employees, service providers and members of public agencies working in the district.

2. Organ that, in Brazil, belongs to the justice system, and accumulates attributions of criminal prosecution, law enforcement, defense and promotion of rights.

3. With the promulgation of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, areas with more than 2,500 hectares began to exceed the limit that a company can dispose of as its property, a fact that led to the cancellation of the real estate registration of the lands in the name of the business group responsible for conducting the Project. Jari.

4. According to Stout and Salm (2011) ‘multidimensionality refers to humans as physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual beings (Ross, 1996, p. 152). Thus, “each and every individual is [must be] treated in her fullest human dimensions (psycho, socio, bio, spiritual, and other dimensions)” (Farmer, 2005, p. xiv). Furthermore, human beings engage in many types of social action, including economic, political, and civic endeavors. Therefore, all of these types of action must be considered by social theory. As Mannheim (1940) explained, substantive rationality enables us to think in a way “which reveals intelligent insights into interrelations of events in a given situation” (p. 53). Life is more complex than rational calculation can explain. Ramos (1981) suggested that we must expand phenonomy and isonomy and delimit anomy and economy in order to foster such a multidimensional life (213).’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joao Salm

Joao Salm Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Governors State University - GSU, Chicago. Co-founded with Simon Fraser University Professor Elizabeth Elliott the international cooperation between Canada and Brazil in the area of restorative justice. Consultant to the UN Peacebuilding Fund in Guinea Bisau. In 2016 he co-edited the book Citizenship, Restorative Justice and the Environment - A dialogue between Brazil, the United States, Canada, Spain and Italy.

Nirson Da Silva Neto

Nirson Medeiros da Silva Neto Post-doctorate in Psychology from the Department of Social and Work Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo. Doctorate in Social Sciences, Anthropology area, and master's degree in Law, with emphasis on Human Rights, from the Federal University of Pará. Associate Professor at the Federal University of Western Pará, where he serves as deputy director of the Institute of Society Sciences and coordinator of the Amazon Restorative Justice Clinic. Facilitator and instructor of peacemaking circles and restorative justice.

Josineide Pamplona

Josineide Gadelha Pamplona Medeiros Doctorate student in Society, Nature and Development, Environmental Sciences area, Federal University of Western Pará. Master's degree in Law, with emphasis on Human Rights, from the Federal University of Pará. Judge of the Court of Justice of the State of Pará, where she coordinates the State Coordination of Restorative Justice and a Judicial Center for Conflict Resolution and Citizenship. Member of the Committee of Restorative Justice within the Judiciary, of the National Council of Justice, Brazil. Facilitator of peacemaking circles and restorative justice.