The Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Truth commissions (TCs) are increasingly lauded by policymakers as a key part of the process of addressing systematic abuses and violence in the past, whether civil war, apartheid, colonialism, or abuse against minorities (Dancy and Thoms 2021; Skaar 2018). Yet, systematic evidence on the effects of implementing truth seeking mechanisms remains limited (Hirsch, MacKenzie, and Sesay 2012). Despite a growing literature that examines determinants of support for different transitional justice measures, our knowledge about consequences of transitional justice at the individual level remains limited. To address this gap and to assess some of the common assumptions about the effects of TCs, we investigate whether the public release of the Norwegian TRC’s report on historical injustices in the government’s treatment of the Sámi and other national minorities in Norway had any immediate causal effects on the views of importance of understanding the past, prejudice, and support for government policies for minority rights.