On the Similarities Between Atrocities and Other Forms of Extreme Violence Occurring in Different Contexts

• In Event: Comparative and International Perspectives on State and Political Crimes

Abstract

In this paper we seek to elucidate the fact that those who commit atrocities such as genocide and war crimes often engage in behaviors that we typically associate with serial offenders, demonstrating that criminology tends to separate too cleanly the extremely violent behaviors of killers in different contexts. For example, seemingly normal individuals who find themselves in situations of war and political repression have engaged in torture, mutilation, rape, the keeping of body parts as trophies, and other atrocities, often in an anomic social context where these atrocities are normalized, encouraged, and shaped by practice, ideology, misogyny, and other attitudes and beliefs that promote othering. The victims of both serial offending and atrocity are often othered individuals who are members of minority groups or are in other ways from the margins of society; which not only makes them more attractive targets but also helps justify denial and inaction by law enforcement or the international community. We discuss atrocities and other forms of extreme violence across time and space to elaborate our points, such as genocidal activity; recent US activities in Iraq and Afghanistan; police torture in Brazil; and the utilization by Japanese colonists of Korean “comfort women.”

Authors

• Nathan Pino, Texas State University

• Robert Shanafelt, Georgia Southern University