Forgiveness Attitudes of Truth Commission Deponents: Relation to Commission Response During Testimony.

Abstract

In the aftermath of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, anecdotal claims that the Truth Commission panel may have encouraged or coerced deponents to forgive perpetrators of human rights abuses have not yet been systematically investigated. This exploratory study examined whether the current forgiveness attitudes of deponents are associated with the response that they received from the Truth Commission panel at public hearings. Participants who had given public testimony (N = 20) completed the Enright Forgiveness Inventory. The public testimony transcripts of forgiving and unforgiving participants were then compared using a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore differences in the response the Truth Commission panel gave to deponents. The analysis found no evidence that the Truth Commission panel actively encouraged or coerced deponents to forgive. However, participants who are currently very forgiving were significantly more likely to be asked by the Truth Commission p...