Source: (2006) Journal of Conflict Resolution. 50(3):368-382.
Truth commissions have existed as mechanisms of transitional justice in some of the societies confronted with legacies of the criminal past. The author focuses on the question of the foundational justification of the idea of a truth commission. While recognizing the complexity and importance of moral and political considerations that are conventionally invoked to justify the existence of this body, the author aims at offering an alternative justificatory account. The main claim is that the specific task capable of providing the ultimate justification of truth commissions consists of rebuilding the lost sense of justice in the community of perpetrators.
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