 Against this background, one view is that reconciliation and retributive justice are in tension with one another. Whereas retributive justice focuses on delivering a punishment that fits the past crime, reconciliation is concerned with bringing about future good relations. The conflict between justice and reconciliation is visible when individuals or communities choose non-punitive responses in hopes of securing peace. According to one view, insofar as transitional societies do not punish wrongdoers, they promote reconciliation at a significant moral cost: they sacrifice justice. Authors debate whether this sacrifice may be all-things-considered morally justified, given the exigencies of transitional societies (Mendez 1997, Dwyer 1999, Greenawalt 2000).