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Summary

Greenawalt, Kent (2000). Amnesty’s justice In Truth v. justice: The morality of truth commissions, eds. Robert I. Rotberg and Dennis Thompson, 189-210. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Greenawalt asks a fundamental question in the introduction to his essay. Is it morally acceptable to condition the mandate of a truth commission on the granting of amnesty to perpetrators of past abuses? This question is predicated in part on Greenawalt’s assertion that amnesty for murderers and torturers involves a degree of injustice. Thus Greenawalt asks another fundamental question. If perpetrators are granted amnesty, is the injustice warranted or justifiable? With these questions in mind, Greenawalt explores key subjects: amnesty in relation to justice and injustice; justifications for amnesty, and the kinds of amnesty that are justified; amnesty and restorative justice; and due process for alleged violators of human rights when those people are granted amnesty.

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