My dissertation and this paper focus on unpacking how mechanisms of transitional justice-primarily truth commissions and trials-achieve institutional legitimacy and thus contribute to the overall peace and stability of a transitioning society. I suggest the mere establishment of these bodies does not lead to peace and stability, but that those transitional justice institutions able to establish legitimacy do significantly contribute to the achievement of these goals. I identify three key characteristics of legitimacy-authority, fairness, and transparency-that lead to more beneficial outcomes for societies emerging from a period of severe human rights repression or civil war. I then evaluate these hypothesized relationships at the cross-national level using a negative binomial regression and event data on political violence. Preliminary findings suggest that institutional characteristics do matter for understanding how truth commissions and trials are able to contribute to societal peace. This study begins to highlight the nuance that exists between and among institutions of transitional justice that is necessary for building a generalizable understanding of transitional justice effectiveness.
