The article is a strategy for the comparative analysis of justice in various contesting forms. The take over potential of restorative justice is examined identifying useful levels of the comparative project. The influence of formalized justice mechanisms over the less formal is explored, with examples in transitional cultures in the South Pacific discussed. By focusing on harmonization and collaboration as features of the essential context within which certain less formalized justice resolutions tend to prevail might be more productive than focusing on their restorative outcomes. An outcome driven analysis has the danger of overlooking the possibility of disharmony and domination inherent in the preference for restorative justice. It is also stressed that in some societies the most efficient way in which the legitimate goals of criminal justice are to be achieved is through collaborative models and initiatives. For this collaboration to emerge and be sustained, the principal participants in criminal justice must be brought together to identify their expectations for justice resolutions and determine the most effective response to these expectations. The integration of justice forms, both in terms of structure and ideology is argued for. Notes, references