The Igbo Indigenous Justice System

A specific variety of communitarian theory, African Communitarianism, requires specific obligations and interactions to provide just resolution after members of society have been harmed. In this reading, the justice system of the Igbbo people is described. Before colonialism, the Igbo people of northern Nigeria engaged in a form of governance that used concensus building, and participation (of primarily males) to resolve disputes. The theory also shares a belief in the preservation of human life, and individual rights, similar to the contractarianism of Locke. Consider how the Igbo justice system involves group membership in a way that can be compared and contrasted with other theories of justice we have studied.

The Community in the Igbo Indigenous Justice System

The Igbo indigenous justice system recognizes the community as also affected by criminal behaviour. Since crime is a local event, and an intraethnic and intraclass affair, community peace and harmony are undermined when there is conflict between community members. Crime creates fear in the community. It can lead to isolation and distrust, which further weaken community bonds. The community response is therefore critical to bringing about desired restoration and reconciliation, failing which will further polarize the community. Due to these understandings the community is actively involved in the definition of harm and the search for a resolution acceptable to all stakeholders. The community's goal in intervening in a conflict is to reform the offender and reintegrate him or her into the community. There is an implicitly recognized need to restore order, stability, reassurance, and faith in the community.

As previously stated, the Igbo indigenous justice system can differentiate between individual victimization and offences where the entire community comes to be or feel victimized. When the matter is strictly between two people or groups of people the community becomes actively involved by assisting the litigants to find a quick resolution to their conflict. The understanding is that if the conflict is not quickly resolved it may escalate, and undermine societal order, peace, and harmony. If it is a matter where the entire community is a victim, the offender is prosecuted at the community's tribunal. In the following sections I review how the Igbo and other Africans handle cases of murder and theft to appreciate the principles and practices of the Igbo indigenous justice system.