My dissertation examines transitional justice measures that states use to address past human rights violations after transition. I ask two questions regarding the causes and impact of using human rights trials and truth commissions in transitional societies. First, why and when do states use transitional justice measures? Second, what is the impact of such measures on human rights protections? I first explored these questions using an empirical analysis of 100 states over a 30 year period and found strong evidence of diffusion effects, the role of democratic regime and human rights advocacy groups in adopting such measures. Second, contrary to recent arguments made by realist scholars, I found that trials and truth commissions lead to improvements in human rights protections in transitional societies. In addition, I learned that trials in neighboring countries have an impact on human rights practices beyond the confines of the single country. In my dissertation, I tried to answer the same questions by examining the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3rd Massacre, the first South Korean truth commission established in 2000. I conducted an 11 month field research and interviewed about fifty activists, journalists, scholars, government officials, and victims and their families.

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