The Cultural Defense.

• Author: Howes, David
• Position: Book review

Alison Dundes Renteln, The Cultural Defense. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. 219.

Alison Dundes Renteln's The Cultural Defense is a monumental treatise, equally versed in the literature of law and anthropology. The author holds a position in political science at the University of Southern California. Her command of these different fields situates her at the forefront of the growing chorus of scholars who argue--some pro, some con--that it is incumbent on the judiciary to take cultural differences seriously in their adjudication of the legal frictions thrown up by our increasingly multicultural society.

Cultural conflicts can arise in many different cases when the traditions of an immigrant or minority culture clash with those of the dominant society. A partial list would include: homicide and assault cases (e.g., when a defendant commits an "honour killing" in reaction to an adulterous liaison, or abides by a "street fighter standard" in response to a verbal insult); child abuse cases (e.g., when a traditional healing or puberty ritual ostensibly performed to benefit the child results in bodily injuries in the eyes of the medical establishment and child welfare authorities); drug use or smuggling cases (e.g., when substances classified as licit and even essential to social existence or spiritual enlightenment in the culture of origin are classified as dangerous and prohibited in the culture of destination); the treatment of animals (e.g., when dietary codes differ, or there is the appearance of cruelty in the way animals are handled in a ritual or sporting event, such as the cockfight or charreada); employment discrimination suits (e.g., when the dress code of a minority culture clashes with the hygiene or safety codes of the dominant society, or the "image" which a given corporation wishes to project); and, the treatment of the dead (e.g., when state-mandated autopsies are performed irrespective of the religious objections of the deceased's next of kin).

In addition to providing a typology of the multiplicity of criminal and civil cases in which cultural defences have been invoked in the United States and other predominantly First-World jurisdictions (most notably, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia), Renteln aims to provide a normative framework for the analysis and resolution of such disputes. Her position is that governments and the courts should cleave to a principle of "maximum accommodation" of cultural differences so that individuals may pursue their own "life plans" (subject to certain provisos, to be discussed presently) in place of the "presumption of assimilation" or "monocultural paradigm" that currently holds sway. The latter paradigm assumes that individuals from "other" cultures should conform to a single national standard, with the result that judges feel no compunction to factor evidence of the cultural background of the litigants into their handling of a case, and simply dismiss such evidence when it is proffered as "irrelevant". (1) According to Renteln, this attitude has the effect of alienating rather than incorporating minorities into the dominant society, and denies them their "right to culture", (2) in addition to interfering with other fundamental rights, such as equal protection, or freedom of religion. She therefore calls for the establishment of a "formal cultural defence" that would obligate the judiciary to at least consider cultural evidence in all cases involving cross-cultural conflict, while leaving the question of how much weight to attach to such evidence, and whether or not it should excuse the conduct at issue (wholly, partially, or not at all), to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Culture matters for justice, Renteln argues, because "enculturation" (i.e., cultural conditioning) predisposes individuals to act in certain ways, consciously or subconsciously, and "acculturation" (i.e., assimilation to the culture of destination) is far less prevalent or uniform than is commonly thought. What is more, "to ignore the truth of enculturation is to bias the result [of a case] from the beginning." (3) For example, defendants of culture typically find it difficult to avail themselves of existing defences, such as provocation, to a charge of murder or assault because of the operation of the "objective reasonable person" test. As Renteln points out, "the reality is that this 'objective' being is simply the persona of the dominant culture," with reference to which all other viewpoints are adjudged "subjective" (or "unreasonable"); hence, the defence of provocation, "which is theoretically available equally to all defendants, in fact cannot be used by people who come from other cultures." (4) The "objective reasonable person" standard thus violates the principle of equal protection, which leads Renteln to conclude that the provocation defence should either be abandoned altogether or else modified to a "culturally specific reasonable person" test. That is, when a defendant's conduct can be shown to have been "culturally motivated", then this should be considered a mitigating circumstance and constitute a "partial...