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The research presents an exploratory and comparative analysis of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Rwandan National Judiciary, and the Gacaca Courts. These three judicial arenas, reflecting the tripartite nature of Rwandan society (the international, the national, and the local), are involved in the process of adjudicating approximately 750,000 suspected perpetrators of genocide crimes. The research involved three field excursions to Rwanda and Tanzania where many of the key actors in the judicial processes were interviewed, the courts were observed and various documents were collected. The research incorporated a theoretical framework that included restorative and retributive justice, liberal legalism, as well as cosmopolitan law. Although the research is exploratory in nature, the "jury" as it were, remaining "out" as to the success of these judicial processes in achieving justice in Rwanda, a number of conclusions were forthcoming in the research. Despite the limitations and contradictions that were observed, the success of the judicial response to genocide in Rwanda may lie, not in the individual findings of guilt, or perhaps innocence, but rather in the fact that the effort, in and of itself, brings to the forefront recognition of the atrocities that took place; and with that, a move towards a more global norm wherein events such as these will not only be condemned, but addressed before they reach such epic proportions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda the Government of National Unity proposed a policy of maximal accountability regarding the adjudication of the perpetrators. A modernized version of the Gacaca, a traditional Rwandan dispute resolution mechanism, has been incorporated into the tripartite legal response to the genocide. As a part of the judicial response the Gacaca represents a community-based approach to justice. This paper presents an analysis of the Gacaca from a restorative justice perspective. It analyzes the Gacaca based on a framework of restorative justice outlined by Sharpe (1998). The discussion reveals that the Gacaca is observed to have mixed results with regard to its fit within the restorative justice model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]