In times of conflict, the people of the stricken nations suffer tremendously and the occurrence of widespread atrocities and gross violations of human rights are inevitable. Once the conflict is over, it is necessary that the marginalized and oppressed sections of the society are given access to the justice they deserve or the values that act as the foundation of society will erode and crumble. However, when the aggravations in question are so widespread, the traditional system of justice may not be adequate or competent enough to ensure that these victims are given the justice they deserve or that these people will not face further abuse at the hands of the authorities. In such situations, the system of transitional justice comes into play. This article endeavors to show how the goals of transitional justice is attained through truth commissions using examples of truth commissions set up in the past and how the truth commissions can be an effective system of alternative justice but ultimately fails before the efficiency of the criminal prosecution system.

Keywords: Truth Commissions, criminal prosecution, transitional justice, alternative justice, international criminal law