NCJ Number
230922
Date Published
2010
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter assesses the role of international forums (specifically truth commissions and court processes) and their related norms and ideals in the development and implementation of "transitional justice," which refers to efforts that address the crimes of state actors involved in crimes and repression associated with a supplanted political regime.
Abstract
The chapter discusses three issues related to transitional justice. First, it examines how the knowledge and practice of transitional justice has been increasingly subject to transfer to international forums from the jurisdictions in which the alleged crimes occurred. Second, it considers how western norms and values have begun to dominate the features of transitional justice, as well as the impact of this domination. Third, it discusses how mechanisms of transitional justice have been used in ways that have secured the dominant position of powerful external states and their values. The chapter acknowledges that some international actions in transitional justice can be valuable and supportive of efforts to rebuild/reform nations corrupted by past criminal regimes and state actors. International efforts can also prevent local populations from perpetrating retaliatory, indiscriminant vengeance on those perceived to have victimized them. Still, this chapter identifies concerns about the general nature of international involvement in the affairs of transitional states. One potentially harmful effect of international involvement in transitional justice is the western tendency to expand the behavioral control and punishment industry. The consolidation of a professionalized, formalized, western legal approach to transitional justice has in some cases paralyzed "ground-up" forms of dealing with violence or conflict and created a dependency on internationals who have a bias toward their own systems of justice. Also, the involvement of outside national parties in transitional justice may be a cover for self-serving nations to increase their foreign dominance. 14 notes