The Limits of Punishment: Transitional Justice and Violent Extremism

This publication is the result of a collaboration between IFIT and the United Nations University’s Centre for Policy Research.

The collaboration encompassed fieldwork that examined in-country legal and judicial responses to jihadist groups in three cases: Somalia (focused on al Shabaab), Nigeria (focused on Boko Haram), and Iraq (focused on the Islamic State). 

Based on these case studies, IFIT’s Law and Peace Practice Group identified a number of common challenges and devised a framework and choice architecture to help policymakers consider more effective uses of amnesty and other transitional justice measures in their response to individuals accused of jihadist association.