Building on his previous two books, "Bad Medicine" and "Bad Judgment," John Reilly acquaints the reader with the ironies and futilities of an approach to justice so adversarial and dysfunctional that it often increases crime rather than reducing it. He examines the radically different indigenous approach to wrongdoing, which is restorative rather than retributive, founded on the premise that people are basically good and wrongdoing is the aberration, not that humans are essentially evil and have to be deterred by horrendous punishments.

The beginning -- Learning -- Getting to know the Stoneys -- Restorative justice -- The origins of processes -- The evil Cornwallis -- Milton Born With a Tooth -- The right thing -- Respect -- Paradigm change -- Crow Dog v. Spotted Tail -- Rupert Ross -- Punishment -- Deterrence -- Due process -- Sawbonna -- Rev. Dale Lang -- To forgive or not to forgive -- Anger, hatred, vengeance -- Advocacy vs. conversation -- Polarization -- Drug prohibitions -- Sexual offences -- One size fits all -- Shifting focus from judicial solutions to community solutions -- The TRC -- FAQ.