The “peace versus justice” debate centers on how societies emerging from political violence and repressive rule should address human rights abuses committed in the past. The strongest advocates of international criminal justice claim that there is a moral and legal duty to prosecute the perpetrators of the gravest international crimes as defined by international law and that acting on this duty is necessary to deter the recurrence of those crimes and consolidate post-conflict peace. Pragmatic critics warn of the potentially destabilizing consequences of insisting on prosecution when negotiation is the most viable means of political change and those accused of criminal violence still retain significant power. Other critics go further in advocating non-retributive approaches to post-conflict justice because of the purported impact of prosecution in exacerbating intercommunal divisions and impeding reconciliation. These debates have been at the heart of controversies surrounding the...
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Rodman, K.A. (2011). Peace Versus Justice. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_716
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