The DOI matches its Crossref record.
State Crimes of Previous Regimes: Knowledge, Accountability, and the Policing of the Past
Abstract
The policy of lustration is set in the context of responses to abuses of power by previous regimes. Using examples from three recent forms of social reconstruction (in Latin America, the former communist states, and South Africa), the author reviews the “justice in transition” debate. How do societies going through democratization confront the human rights violations committed by the previous regime? Five aspects of this debate are reviewed: (1) truth: establishing and confronting the knowledge of what happened in the past; (2) justice: making offenders accountable for their past violations through three possible methods: punishment through the criminal law, compensation and restitution, and mass disqualification such as lustration; (3) impunity: giving amnesty to previous offenders; (4) expiation; and (5) reconciliation and reconstruction. A concluding discussion raises the implications of the subject for the study of time and social control.
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In the citing paper
“First, judges played an indispensable role in communist regimes.”
From Purging the Judiciary After a Transition: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2025) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“Communist parties kept judges on a short leash, instructed them how to decide politically salient cases (a practice colloquially referred to as ‘telephone justice’18), or used them to consolidate and display the parties’ power in political show trials.19”
From Purging the Judiciary After a Transition: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2025) · cites this paper as [18]
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Cited by
The irreconcilable goals of transitional justice
Leebaw, B. A. (2008) · Human Rights Quarterly · doi:10.1353/hrq.2008.0014 · Cited by 329
An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure
Cryer, R., Robinson, D., & Vasiliev, S. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108680455 · Cited by 315
Remedies in International Human Rights Law
Shelton, D. L. (2006) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207534.001.0001 · Cited by 297
Remembering to Forget: Chosen Amnesia as a Strategy for Local Coexistence in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Buckley-Zistel, S. (2006) · Africa · doi:10.3366/afr.2006.76.2.131 · Cited by 280
Ocantos, E. A. G. (2016) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781316535509 · Cited by 253
Metadata
- Authors
- Cohen, S.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Cohen, Stanley
- ORCID
- Cohen, Stanley
- Venue
- Law & Social Inquiry
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1995
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 01
- Pages
- 7-50
- ISSN
- 0897-6546 (ISSN-L)
- 1747-4469
- OpenAlex
- W2167175932
- Cited by
- 229
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 17 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 11.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Law & Social Inquiry (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › War, Law, and Justice
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Memory, violence, and history
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Keywords
- lustration, transitional justice, state crimes, human rights violations, democratization, truth commissions, accountability, amnesty, expiation, reconciliation, social reconstruction, former communist states, Latin America, South Africa, social control, time and memory
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Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: State Crimes of Previous Regimes: Knowledge, Accountability, and the Policing of the Past. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/j.1747-4469.1995.tb00681.x
- The paper
- Cohen, S. (1995). State Crimes of Previous Regimes: Knowledge, Accountability, and the Policing of the Past. Law & Social Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.1995.tb00681.x
