Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: A Needed Force in Alaska?

• Main Author: Parker, Heather
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Duke University School of Law 2017
• Subjects: Law; Canada; Alaska law review; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol34/iss1/3; https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1525&context=alr

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions are official, temporary bodies used for communities to come to terms with past violence, promote education and awareness of historic trauma, and to provide recognition and closure for victims and successors. By bringing past issues to light, such commissions promote healing and allow these communities to move forward. Although the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa after the Apartheid-era is best known, several similar commissions have been established throughout the globe and within the United States. This paper compares commissions from South Africa, El Salvador, South Korea, and Canada with those that have been established in the United States to examine whether such a commission would be useful in Alaska to address current social problems in the state.