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SANTA FE, N.M. — Peacemaking practices used in indigenous American cultures can have a place in courts dealing with child abuse and neglect within tribes and in nontribal courts, says a new national panel that includes two local judges.

Judge John J. Romero Jr., presiding judge over 2nd District Children’s Court, and Tribal Appellate Judge Cheryl Fairbanks, of Albuquerque, joined the first meeting of the panel in Reno, Nev., in August.

The judges led officials from 18 tribes as part of the Child Abuse and Neglect Leadership Institute, a new project created as part of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges in conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Casey Family Programs. It was focused on tribal courts.

“The Institute presented a tremendous opportunity where tribal court judges from around the country shared lessons on how communities are incorporating traditional Native American practices into their problem-solving process,” Romero said in a statement Thursday.

Judges shared how “their communities are combining western and traditional justice practices and to discuss ways in which their tribal communities can work with surrounding state courts,” according to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges website.

Romero said traditional peacemaking practices aim to heal the victim, the offender and the communities in which they live. Tribal proceedings, which are sometimes overseen by an elder not legally trained, sometimes include participants sitting in a circle doing intensive listening and emotional sharing about harm done by the offender.

This is different from nontribal courts, where the emphasis is on procedure, guilt and then punishment, often with little attention to the emotional trauma done to the victim, and often the trauma done to the offender that led to their offense.

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“We’ve all seen stories of guilty and sentenced. But in the final analysis there are no winners, even for the victim’s family. There’s still no healing. There is anger and acrimony,” Romero said. “And that’s the exact opposite of what indigenous judicial practices do. There is a healing approach instead of ‘I am going to find you guilty and throw the book at you.’ ”

The panel also looked at conventional legal statutes and emerging trends in child development, substance abuse, domestic violence and other trauma.

“There is much that the state courts have learned and continue to learn from traditional indigenous justice practices,” Romero said. “We are fortunate to live in an environment in New Mexico where these lessons can be applied to make a positive difference for court-involved children and families.”