International tribunals, due to time and resource constraints, are often ill‐equipped to prosecute the hundreds or thousands of perpetrators who have committed heinous crimes in the wake of mass atrocities. As a result, the international criminal justice system often falls short of achieving long‐term justice. This Article argues that it is imperative for leaders of post‐atrocity societies to implement responsive, local justice solutions based on the needs of their particular community—without sole reliance on international criminal prosecutions—to effectively resolve conflict and engender peace. The Author discusses the Restorative Justice and Transitional Justice models as alternatives to prosecution. Due to the competing aims of reckoning with heinous crimes that have been committed, while simultaneously laying a stable foundation for new democratic institutions, post‐atrocity societies must strike a balance between justice and peace.