In Law and War: Policy Legacies in the Adoption of Transitional Justice

States are under increasing international pressure following armed conflicts to address wartime abuses through transitional justice. This pressure includes calls for trials, truth commissions, amnesties, and reparations, among other measures. In this policy brief, we explore the implementation of such policies during conflict and argue that “during conflict” behavior often shapes which measures are taken once the conflict has ended. By combining uniquely positioned datasets on justice policies adopted during and after conflict, we show how this relationship can be observed globally. We then examine this relationship through the case of Colombia and identify three mechanisms that help explain this relationship.