As nations throughout the world emerge from periods of human rights abuses, systematic oppression, and collective violence, truth commissions have become indispensable to political transition. Such commissions are established as temporary bodies to investigate human rights violations and patterns of violence that occurred over a specified period of time. Their goal is to document conflict--to recover the truth--as a first step toward healing.

Of the truth commissions to date, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has most effectively captured public attention...