While justice and rule-of-law strategies are being increasingly studied in regard to government
behavior, new data on the use of transitional justice during armed conflict finds that this is a
tactic of governance also employed by rebel groups. The During-Conflict Justice (DCJ) dataset
records over 200 instances of rebel-initiated justice efforts. These efforts include a wide range
of judicial behavior including ad hoc trials, offers of amnesty, and reparations programs. I argue
that the use of justice processes during armed conflict is a signaling strategy used by the rebel
group to attract resources from domestic audiences. I test this claim using new data on the
rebel use of judicial process in the DCJ dataset.
