The Data of Transitional Justice

Transitional justice database projects continue to multiply, even amid mounting suspicion that systematic comparative analysis has little to offer the field. In an effort to confront these suspicions, this chapter offers a brief history of the Transitional Justice Research Collaborative, explaining the decisions behind the creation of its database, its evolution over time, and its contribution to knowledge on complex issues. The authors also respond to common criticisms that the goal of data projects is to engage in veiled activism, or in the opposite, to apologize for the status quo. In the end, the chapter calls for more efforts at data collection and analysis, so long as they remain open to scrutiny.