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After political violence, many states compensate victims as part of their approach to transitional justice. Do material reparations change political participation? I argue that receiving material reparations can increase political engagement. I use a multi-method approach to show that surviving victims of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile who receive a material reparation are more likely to register to vote after being compensated. I substantiate this claim through content analysis of victim testimonies, qualitative interviews, and causal estimates that exploit exogenous variation in the timing of reparations. I find that reparations are capable of persuading resistant populations to engage in politics. Additionally, my results suggest that the noneconomic component of reparations payments is particularly valued by recipients, as victims use this transitional justice experience to update their views about the state. In particular, victims value the acknowledgment attached to compensation and the consistency with which their payments are received. These findings suggest that analyses of the consequences of violence should account for experiences with transitional justice policies. From a policy perspective, the results are important for societies implementing transitional justice policies in the hopes of achieving long-lasting peace and preventing reversions to violence.

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