In the literature on transitional justice, there is disagreement about whether countries like the United States can be characterized as transitional societies. Though it is widely recognized that transitional justice mechanisms such as truth commissions and reparations can be used by Global North nations to address racial injustice, some consider societies to be transitional only when they are undergoing a formal democratic regime change. We conceptualize the political situation of low-income Black communities under the U.S. imprisonment and policing regime in terms of three criteria for identifying transitional contexts: normalized collective and political wrongdoing, pervasive structural inequality, and the failure of the rule of law. That these criteria are met, however, does not necessarily mean that a transition is taking place. Drawing on the American political development and abolition democracy literatures, we discuss what it would mean for the United States to transition out of its present imprisonment and policing regime. A transitional justice perspective shows the importance of not only pushing for truth and reparation, but for an actual transition.

在关于过渡司法的文献中，对于像美国这样的国家是否可以被描述为过渡社会存在分歧。尽管人们普遍认为，全球北方国家可以使用诸如真相委员会和赔偿之类的过渡司法机制来解决种族不公正问题，但有些人认为社会只有在经历正式的民主政权更迭时才具有过渡性。我们根据识别过渡背景的三个标准来概念化美国监禁和治安制度下低收入黑人社区的政治状况：正常化的集体和政治不法行为、普遍的结构性不平等和法治的失败。然而，满足这些标准并不一定意味着正在发生转变。借鉴美国政治发展和废除民主的文献，我们讨论了美国从目前的监禁和治安制度中过渡出来的意义。过渡时期正义的观点表明，不仅要推动真相和赔偿，而且要推动实际的过渡。