In "transitional societies" like South Africa and Bosnia, which are currently
moving from authoritarianism, and often violent repression, to democracy,
questions arise about the appropriate way to deal with serious human rights
offenders. Will a system of retributive justice bring about the healing and
harmony necessary for peace and stability? Or, is "a different kind of justice"
required, one explicitly aimed at reconciliation, and designed to repair and
restore relations, and, perhaps, to forgive offenders rather than prosecute
them? Are the systems mutually exclusive, or can they be combined in some way?
In an effort to clarify terms and sharpen practical choices, this essay
distinguishes between retributive and restorative justice and relates the
distinction to constructive proposals concerning the ideas of forgiveness and
reconciliation. The essay then applies the proposed framework to two recent
efforts to cope with the problem: the truth and reconciliation commissions of
South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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