Doctoral Dissertation Research:Does Restorative Justice Contribute to Human Rights and Peace? Explaining Diffusion and Evaluating Impacts Using a Multi-Method, Multi-Level Approach

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

Increasingly, states are choosing restorative justice mechanisms such as truth commissions and reparations to address past human rights harms. Transitional states now see transitional justice as a route to legitimacy and stability. Restorative justice advocates claim that truth commissions and reparations play a critical causal role in bringing about a diverse set of positive societal outcomes including improving human rights, democratic development, and consolidating peace. Despite the global diffusion of the restorative justice discourse and the widespread adoption of domestic truth commissions and reparations policies, there is little evidence that restorative justice actually works. The first research question this project will address is: do restorative justice mechanisms contribute to improvements in human rights, democratic development, and peace consolidation, and if so, how? Second, if restorative justice does not have these positive impacts, then why have restorative justice policies diffused so widely and why do state officials, advocates, and academics continue to make claims about policy efficacy? Applying a multi-method, multi-level approach to explain restorative justice diffusion and evaluate its impacts at the global and subnational levels, the research will clarify explanations for policy diffusion, and establish the relationship between different forms of justice (e.g. retributive, restorative) and reconciliation. It will provide a much-needed evidence base to help guide policy design and help channel resources into the most impactful transitional justice and peacebuilding programs; and it will contribute to current policy debates about how to achieve sustainable peace. To empirically test different explanations for policy diffusion, the principal investigators (PIs) statistically analyze cross-national data from the NSF-supported Transitional Justice Research Collaborative (TJRC) database. They also utilize newly collected meso- and micro-level data from recent field work in Colombia to identify new diffusion pathways and construct different measures of (non-geographic) spatial nearness. To evaluate the impact of restorative justice on human rights, democracy, and peace outcomes, the PIs statistically analyze cross-national data from the TJRC database and micro-level data from a recently completed Harvard-led population-based survey in Colombia. Supported by the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the PIs will implement an innovative survey experiment in Colombia to explore the relationship between restorative justice and reconciliation -- the most commonly claimed outcome among restorative justice supporters. Utilizing an experimental vignette methodology (EVM), which uses survey sampling methods to produce a collection of experimental subjects and experimental methods to randomly assign participants to variations of the independent variable, they will test how different provisions of justice (e.g. restorative, retributive, distributive, and procedural) impact individual judgments about reconciliation. In transitional settings, these provisions of justice are delivered through transitional justice processes such as criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, and reparations. The experimental field survey helps establish and clarify pathways between different forms of justice and reconciliation, and will be used to explore how different forms and combinations of justice change subjective judgments about reconciliation. The research design draws from a basic comparative design according to which randomly selected individuals from different groups are compared. The PIs will make comparisons, among others, between the general population, war victims, and Afro-Colombians. The PIs draw on insights from political science, sociology, and anthropology in order to study restorative justice dynamics at the global and subnational levels.