Introduction: Transitional justice as conflict resolution

Abstract

Transitional justice typically concerns offenders without a previous criminal record, with a considerable standing in their communities, who had been involved in civil war or ethnic strife believing that they are acting in the interest of their communities. This poses a sequence of challenges for transitional justice which require procedures and decisions outside the realm of systemic criminal justice. Such measures involve both special considerations for the circumstances (often a narrowed room for individual choice), and, on the other hand, the availability of quick and far reaching policies to address and punish criminals who might otherwise be shielded by their social status or influence on their society and its legal system.