Consequences of Judging in Transitional Justice Courts

• In Event: 1567 - Section on Sociology of Law Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 1: Disputing

Abstract

In the aftermath of mass violence, governments and organizations often create transitional justice mechanisms, such as trials and truth commissions. Though much research has examined the consequences of participating in such endeavors, scholars have yet to examine how transitional justice mechanisms affect the people who play a core role in the process, such as judges, mediators, or other staff. To address this question, we examine a case study of Rwanda, where approximately 250,000 lay community members were elected to serve as judges (inyangamugayo) in Rwanda’s post-genocide gacaca courts. We analyze interviews with 135 randomly selected judges who served at two levels of Rwanda’s court system: a lower level that addressed property crimes (e.g., looting during genocide) and an upper level that addressed crimes against people (e.g., genocidal murder). We find that judges experienced both positive and negative impacts in terms of both wellbeing and social capital. These effects are structured to some degree by the degree of authority and responsibility that they held in the transitional justice process. Importantly, those who served at the highest level of authority – judges responsible for sentencing fellow citizens to long prison terms -- experienced some profoundly negative effects, including disturbing thoughts and dreams about the trials that diminished their wellbeing and grudges that disrupted their social capital in the community. These questions and findings elaborate and extend two important social science literatures on the personal and social consequences of participation in justice proceedings: (1) research on judges and jurors in Western contexts; and, (2) research on less intensive participation in transitional justice. This study also speaks directly to the design and practice of community courts and transitional justice mechanisms on the ground, particularly the urgent need to understand and ameliorate the negative effects of participation in justice proceedings that are increasingly localized.

Authors

• Hollie Nyseth Brehm, The Ohio State University

• Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

• Evelyn Ann Gertz, The Ohio State University

• Laura Frizzell, The Ohio State University