NON-TRADITIONAL TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MECHANISMS AND PERCEPTIONS AND SYMPTOMS OF VICTIMIZATION AMONG DIASPORIC INDIVIDUALS: MEMBERS OF THE COPTIC CHRISTIAN DIASPORA IN THE UNITED STATES AS A CASE STUDY

Transitional justice measures are state-centered measures articulating atrocities committed by officials and occurring within the borders of a specific state. Questioning members of a Diaspora about the impact of transitional justice on their self-classification as victims and their experienced symptoms of victimization may therefore support attempts to expand the field of transitional justice. This study contributes to a body of work promoting understanding of the possibilities and constraints of transitional justice mechanisms, in the context of hate crime against Copts by Muslims in Egypt. To analyze the impact of restored relationships on self-classified victimhood and experienced symptoms of victimization, the study uses contact theory and intergroup interaction theory. The study also depends on legitimacy theory to study the ways in which government officials use judicial and non-judicial measures of transitional justice mechanisms to address self- classification of victimhood and experienced symptoms of victimization. Social contacts, especially those close and sustained, among Copts and Muslims are associated with the former experiencing (1) less suffering as a result of perceptions of victimization and (2) fewer symptoms of victimization. What is more, members of this Diaspora suffer from perceptions of victimization and symptoms of victimization when they perceive that the Egyptian authorities are biased and ineffective in conducting police investigations, applying judicial procedures and laws, providing compensation, holding reconciliation meetings, and documenting violations