Truth commissions have become a popular way to confront the crimes of crumbling regimes around the world, often when prosecutions are impractical or impossible.
A key failing, conservationists say, lies in the continent's justice systems, where evidence collection is often botched, prosecutions poorly handled, and judges often don't take wildlife crime seriously, which sends the message that poaching is no big deal.
Therefore, authorities will often forgo prosecution if a defendant enrolls in a treatment program, especially if the defendant is a first-time offender.
Mr. Firestone is an expert in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the American law that often allows prosecution of foreign bribery cases in United States courts.
While the government prides itself on its efforts to tackle human trafficking, it still happens on the island and often without prosecution.
The crews then fudge the logs, and the prosecutions often result from the falsified record-keeping rather than the dumping.
Even if it can match suspicious trades with insiders, the SEC's prosecutions often fail because the evidence is circumstantial.
Despite increases in first offence reporting, there is some evidence that repeat offences are less often reported and prosecutions of hate crimes have not kept pace.
Iavor Rangelov, at the LSE Centre for the Study of Global Governance, suggests that criminal prosecutions often have incidental consequences, not least by opening up space for public debate.
We often think of prosecutions as involving a single crime that took place at a particular moment, so that the charges are fixed and the information that will be presented in court fairly clear-cut.
