Following their unanimous acquittal, Joe Schmidt hopes that both Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding will one day be forgiven for their behaviour.
Both Jackson and Olding were found not guilty of raping a woman after a nine-week trial at Laganside Courts in Belfast which ended in March, 2018.
But both players' IRFU contracts were terminated during the trial amid controversy over WhatsApp messages that had emerged, and they now both play rugby outside of Ireland - Jackson with London Irish and Olding with Brive in France.
"Being found not guilty doesn't necessarily in some people's eyes excuse behaviour. That's a difficult thing to overcome," Schmidt told BBC Radio Northern Ireland.
"You would hope that people…we have a system where people are punished for crime and not doing a crime and you hope that at some stage, forgiveness would be part of that."
The former Ireland head coach revealed also recently revealed that Rory Best considered retiring from rugby over the outrage of him appearing at Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding 's rape trial.
Best and Iain Henderson attended the trial of the men , who were both acquitted, in Belfast on a day off for the Ireland team in 2018.
Best's decision to appear as a character witness caused such controversy at the time that not only did he consider relinquishing the Ireland captaincy, but he considered walking away from the sport completely.
The hashtag #NotMyCaptain trended on Twitter as people called for the Ulster legend to step down as captain.
Writing in his new autobiography Ordinary Joe, seen by the Irish Times, Schmidt said: “None of the management were aware that the two players were going to attend, and the outrage that followed was difficult for everyone in the group.
“It was uncomfortable for all of us but it particularly magnified the stress that Rory was under, and he considered relinquishing the captaincy.”
Schmidt added: “He even thought about walking away from the game completely, such was the fallout for his family and those around him.”
Best, who has now retired from rugby, went on to lead Ireland to the Grand Slam after his appearance at the trial with Schmidt's side beating England 24-15 in their final game at Twickenham.
He previously spoke of the "really, really difficult time" he went through after attending the trial.
He said: "The hardest thing for me was to try and guide Ulster through it while I was getting so much abuse myself. There were a lot of people calling for me to step down, and I think the thing that got me through it was, ultimately, the support that Joe [Schmidt] and the senior players within Ireland gave me.
"I feel that it's a lesson I hope my kids take from it. If you have friends that are in trouble and they need a bit of help and support, and if they are promising you that they have done nothing wrong, even though people may not think it's the right thing to do, I think it is.
"Ultimately, nobody came out of the process a winner in the slightest. From an Ulster point of view, I was just glad to get it all to bed so we could concentrate on the tail end of the season and actually playing rugby."
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