Multicultural Jurisprudence: Comparative Perspectives on the Cultural Defense

As individuals travel across borders, societies have become more and more pluralistic. The result of increased migration is the interaction among cultural communities and inevitably clashes between state law and customary law. These cultural conflicts have given rise to a new multicultural jurisprudence. In this volume scholars grapple with the immense challenges judges are currently experiencing everywhere. To what the extent can and should courts accommodate litigants' request by taking their cultural backgrounds into account.

This collection brings together powerful examples of the cultural defence in many countries in Western Europe, North America, and elsewhere. It shows the ubiquity of this defence, contrary to the mistaken impression that it has been invoked principally in the United States. This book makes the case for undertaking studies of the use of the cultural defence in jurisdictions all over the world where this has not been previously documented.

Many of the essays concentrate on criminal cases including homicide in the context of honour crimes, provocation based on 'loss of face', or witchcraft killings. Some deal with other areas of law such as asylum jurisprudence, family law, and housing policy. They show in concrete cases how cultural claims have arisen and how legal systems wrestle with these arguments. It is clear that judges have had considerable difficulty handling many of the cultural claims.

The authors demonstrate persuasively the need to reconsider the proper use of cultural evidence in legal proceedings. Those interested in the ways in which expertise influences the disposition of cases will find this book compelling.

Introduction
Alison Dundes Renteln and Marie-Claire Foblets
Part I Theoretical Perspectives
1. The Culture Defence in English Common Law: the Potential for Development
Gordon R Woodman
2. Culture, Crime, and Culpability: Perspectives on the Defence of Provocation
Kumaralingam Amirthalingam
3. The Use and Abuse of the Cultural Defense
Alison Dundes Renteln
Part II Overview of Countries
4. The Cultural Defence in Spain
Barbara Truffin and César Arjona
5. Visions of a Multicultural Criminal Law: an Australian Perspective
Simon Bronitt
6. The Paradox of Cultural Differences in Dutch Criminal Law
Mirjam Siesling and Jeroen Ten Voorde
7. The Cultural Defence in Criminal Law: South African Perspectives
Pieter A Carstens
Part III Specific Issues
8. Criminalising Romani Culture through Law
Joke Kusters
9. Honor Killings and the Cultural Defense in Germany
Sylvia Maier
10. A Critique of ‘Loss of Face’ Arguments in Cultural Defense Cases: a Comparative Study
Cher Weixia Chen
11. The Paradox of the Cultural Defence: Gender and Cultural Othering in Canada
Maneesha Deckha
Part IV Legal Actors
12. Dealing with the Ethnic Other in Criminal Law Practice: a Case Study from the Netherlands
Brenda Carina Oude Breuil
13. Cultural Defence and Societal Dynamics
Erik Claes and Jogchum Vrielink
14. The Anthropologist as Expert Witness: the Case of a Murder in Maine
John L Caughey
Conclusion
Alison Dundes Renteln and Marie-Claire Foblets