Enforcement

Formal and informal systems may draw on the other’s power in order to enforce judgments. For example, formal courts in Canada and elsewhere have drawn on the threat of community sanction through sentencing circles or mediation models to attempt to enhance compliance with sentences that do not involve incarceration but may involve behaviour change and other restorative remedies. Likewise, informal justice systems often invoke the threat of state intervention in order to enhance compliance with measures recommended by informal mechanisms. For example, case resolution practitioners known as Peacemakers within the Navajo Native American tribal community in the United States may remind offenders of a woman’s or girl’s right to seek a remedy in the formal courts if Peacemaking fails to reach a resolution (Coker, 2006).