Crime Commissions

Abstract

This article, which will appear in the Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice when it is published in the spring of 2012, briefly discusses the evolution and function of crime commissions, from Argentina's National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons in 1983, to the United Nations commissions in East Timor and Sierra Leone in the last decade. It describes similarities and differences among several such commissions, including how they came to be, what their powers are, and whether they offer amnesty to witnesses who might otherwise be charged with crimes.

Keywords: criminal law, international crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, truth and reconcilliation commission, truth commission, amnesty, international law, human rights law, United Nations