ABSTRACT
In recent years, restorative justice principles have come to feature prominently in transitional processes within divided societies. The truth commissions of South Africa and Latin America, as well as the Gacaca courts of Rwanda, have all adopted methods or processes that might be described as “restorative” in a broad sense in the hope that they may assist efforts in fostering reconciliation and social cohesion in the aftermath of violent conflict (Aldana-Pindell, 2004; Ironside, 2002; Parmentier, 2001). The extent to which restorative principles have come to feature in transitional justice should not surprise us. There is, after all, a considerable paradigmatic overlap between the two concepts, with both espousing similar themes and values such as accountability, reparation, reconciliation, conflict resolution, and democratic participation. As such, both restorative justice and transitional justice can be viewed as nonpunitive methods of reconstructing the truth of past events and making amends for wrongdoing.
