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or other decisionmaking principles in an appropriate and consistent manner to oversee the proceedings and arrive at his, her, or their decision(s). Trustworthiness also has implications for legitimacy in governmental actions. As part of their indepth analysis of a restorative justice dialogue that arose from the robbing of an Israeli woman by two Palestinian boys, Umbreit and Ritter articulate six elements to a restorative justice dialogue. First, everyone who was directly affected by the crime should be encouraged to participate in the dialogue. Second, the victim and the offender should be able to choose family members and or support persons to be present, if they desire. Constructs of Justice: Beyond Civil Litigation 263 Third, critically, participation in the dialogue must be voluntary by all , the process of the dialogue should be adapted to the needs of both the victim and the offender. Fifth, extra deference should be shown to the victim, but the offender should still be treated with respect. And sixth, all of the primary parties to the dialogue should be prepared in advance through inperson meetings with some mediator facilitator prior to the dialogue. While the concept of restorative justice is relatively new to American courts,similar principles can be found in many traditional or historical societies. GrayKanatiiosh and Lauderdale discuss the use of restorative principles in Native American societies as a way of maintaining balance within the argue that, rather than exerting control through‘stricter laws, more law enforcement officers, and increased funding’as a way to decrease crime in Native American munities, the money would be better spent restoringa multidimensional web of justiceby identifying, understanding and, where possible, recreating traditional cultural social practices and structures to maintai n social balance, diversity, and harmony within their societies. The web of justice they describe includes preventative as well as restorative mechanisms that together function to maintain justice, at least justice as fairness. More recent research in the area of restorative justice has expanded from the criminal law context to applying the principles of restorative justice in other areas. One such area is that of civil litigation. Civil litigation, and more particularly tort litigation, is generally intended to redress some injury that results from the intentional or negligent acts or omissions of another. Such cases can range from the deliberate injury of one person by another, to medical malpractice, to the notorious slipandfall case. Similarly, in breach of contract litigation, a party generally alleges that it has been injured due to the other party’s failure to perform under the terms of the contract, entitling the nonbreaching party to damages or other equitable relief. In both types of lawsuit, the injured party sues in order to be made whole for his or her injury. Yet, is the civil litigation process, with its moary verdicts, the best