1st Edition

Transitional Justice in the United States of America Justice for All?

By Brianne McGonigle Leyh Copyright 2026
326 Pages
by Routledge

326 Pages
by Routledge

This book employs a transitional justice lens in order to explore justice initiatives in the United States of America. Transitional justice developed out of societal demands to better address serious abuse, injustice, and atrocities – initially in South American post-authoritarian contexts transitioning to democratic states and later elsewhere, but especially within post-conflict contexts. The... Read more

1 Introduction

2 The pillars of transitional justice

3 Federal-level transitional justice initiatives

4 State-level transitional justice initiatives

5 Local-level transitional justice initiatives

6 Conclusions and recommendations

Biography

Brianne McGonigle Leyh is Associate Professor at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights and the Montaigne Center for the Rule of Law, Faculty of Law, Economics, and Governance, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

"This timely and insightful book reveals that the transitional justice field has much to offer the United States as we continue to grapple with the painful legacy of historical and contemporary injustices; at the same time, the beautifully chronicled sub-national initiatives undertaken in U.S. communities may inform TJ efforts elsewhere." Beth van Schaack, former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice

"Brianne McGonigle Leyh’s pathbreaking scholarship expands the field of transitional justice. She convincingly argues that the United States is a ‘non-paradigmatic’ transitional justice case and opens a provocative discussion about what justice requires to redress historic and systemic racial violence and discrimination in the United States." Laurel E. Fletcher, Clinical Professor of Law, UC Berkeley