Truth and reconciliation commissions have become one of the standard options on the palette of transitional justice alternatives. They stand as something of a half-way house among approaches towards accountability for past atrocities and other human rights violations. The truth and reconciliation commission does not “forgive and forget,” because it is predicated on public truth-telling, but nor does it encompass rigorous prosecution by criminal justice mechanisms. The South African model is probably the best-known, although it had some atypical features, such as the power to recommend amnesty to perpetrators who made full confession of their deeds.

The Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in July 2002. It presented its final report to the President of Sierra Leone on October 5, 2004. The actual operations of the Commission, consisting of both private and public encounters with victims and perpetrators, public hearings on thematic issues, and other research and investigation took only about eight months, however. The report provided Sierra Leone with a detailed narrative of the country's history, with a focus on the brutal civil war of the 1990s, analysis of various dimensions of political, economic and social life with a view to understanding the causes of the conflict, and a series of findings and recommendations.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of post-conflict justice in Sierra Leone has been the parallel existence of an international criminal justice mechanism, the Special Court for Sierra Leone.