Justice After Conflict, Terrorism, and the Prevention of War

When violence ends, societies face the wrenching question of how to deal with past atrocities, a field known as transitional justice. The choices made here shape whether a peace endures. At the heart of the debate lies a tension between two conceptions of justice. Retributive justice focuses on holding perpetrators accountable through prosecution and punishment; it emphasizes the rule of law, deterrence, and the idea that grave crimes must not go unanswered. Restorative justice focuses instead on repairing harm, restoring relationships, and reintegrating both victims and offenders into the community; it prioritizes truth-telling, acknowledgment, and reconciliation over punishment. In practice, societies emerging from mass violence often blend the two, and the balance struck is deeply polit