Truth v. justice the morality of truth commissions (Princeton University Press, 2000)
Includes bibliographical references and index
Truth commissions and the provision of truth, justice, and reconciliation / Robert I. Rotberg -- The moral foundations of truth commissions / Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson -- Restoring decency to barbaric societies / Rajeev Bhargava -- Moral ambition within and beyond political constraints: reflections on restorative justice / Elizabeth Kiss -- Truth commissions, transitional justice, and civil society / David A. Crocker -- The moral foundations of the South African TRC: truth as acknowledgment and justice as recognition / André du Toit -- Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: the third way / Alex Boraine -- The uses of truth commissions: lessons for the world / Dumisa B. Ntsebeza -- Amnesty, truth, and reconciliation: reflections on the South African amnesty process / Ronald C. Slye -- Amnesty's justice / Kent Greenawalt -- Trials, commissions, and investigating committees: the elusive search for norms of due process / Sanford Levinson -- The hope for healing: what can truth commissions do? / Martha Minow -- Doing history, doing justice: the narrative of the historian and of the truth commission / Charles S. Maier -- Constructing a report: writing up the "truth" / Charles Villa-Vicencio and Wilhelm Verwoerd
The truth commission is an increasingly common fixture of newly democratic states with repressive or strife-ridden pasts. From South Africa to Haiti, truth commissions are at work with varying degrees of support and success. To many, they are the best--or only--way to achieve a full accounting of crimes committed against fellow citizens and to prevent future conflict. Others question whether a restorative justice that sets the guilty free, that cleanses society by words alone, can deter future abuses and allow victims and their families to heal. Here, leading philosophers, lawyers, social scie