Doha Declaration

Education for Justice

Restorative Justice and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process

Full title in original language:

Restorative Justice and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process

Education level:

University

University (18+ years)

Topic / subtopic:

Crime prevention and criminal justice

Restorative justice

Criminal justice system

Target audience:

Students, Teachers / Lecturers

Type of resource:

Publication / Article

Languages:

English

Region of relevance:

Global

Access:

restricted access: requiring payment

Individual authors:

Christian B. N. Gade

Publication year:

2013

Published by:

South African Journal of Philosophy / Taylor & Francis

Copyright holder:

Contact name and address:

Taylor & Francis

Contact email:

enquiries@taylorandfrancis.com

Key themes:

Links:

Publication

Short description:

It has frequently been argued that the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was committed to restorative justice (RJ), and that RJ has deep historical roots in African indigenous cultures by virtue of its congruence both with ubuntu and with African indigenous justice systems (AIJS). In this article, the author looks into the question of what RJ is. He also presents the finding that the term ‘restorative justice’ appears only in transcripts of three public TRC hearings, and the hypothesis that the TRC first really began to take notice of the term ‘restorative justice’ after April 1997, when the South African Law Commission published an Issue Paper dealing with RJ. Furthermore, he shows that neither the connection between RJ and ubuntu nor the connection between RJ and AIJS is as straightforward and unproblematic as often assumed.

Short description:

It has frequently been argued that the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was committed to restorative justice (RJ), and that RJ has deep historical roots in African indigenous cultures by virtue of its congruence both with ubuntu and with African indigenous justice systems (AIJS). In this article, the author looks into the question of what RJ is. He also presents the finding that the term ‘restorative justice’ appears only in transcripts of three public TRC hearings, and the hypothesis that the TRC first really began to take notice of the term ‘restorative justice’ after April 1997, when the South African Law Commission published an Issue Paper dealing with RJ. Furthermore, he shows that neither the connection between RJ and ubuntu nor the connection between RJ and AIJS is as straightforward and unproblematic as often assumed.

Doha Declaration

Education for Justice

Supported by the State of Qatar

60 years Crime Congress