Apologies, Acknowledgement and Victim-Centred Transitional Justice: Criminology as a Framework for Addressing the Legacy of the Northern Ireland Conflict

• In Event: Victim-centered responses to political and mass violence

Abstract

This paper is drawn from an extensive review of the relevant archives and interviews with senior Republicans, Loyalists, state actors, victims and other stakeholders concerning the role of apologies and acknowledgment as a means of addressing past violence. Supported by an ongoing Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, as well as a previously completed ESRC funded project, this paper focuses in particular on the role of non-state armed groups in addressing past harms for which they are responsible. Using an illustrative range of apology case studies, the paper examines the intersection between apologies, truth recovery and accountability in promoting victim-centred transitional justice. The paper draws upon theoretical literature from restorative justice, victimology, the criminology of war and the criminology/human rights intersection in arguing that criminology has a distinct ‘valued added’ in a field historically dominated by law and political science.

Author

• Kieran P McEvoy, Queens University Belfast