Criminal Justice reflection assignment

AlvarezPPTCh10.ppt

Chapter 10:

Genocide

Defining Genocide

United Nations Definition of Genocide

On April 9, 1948, the general assembly of the United Nations approved the Genocide Convention which defined genocide as a crime under international law.

U.N. Definition

Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group
Killing members of the group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Imposing measures to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Common Characteristics of Genocide

20th Century Genocide

Selected 20th Century Examples of Genocide

Location	Years	Perpetrators	Victim Group	Death Count
South West Africa	1904–1905	German military	Hereros	60,000
Turkey	1915–1923	Turkish military and police	Armenians	1 million
Soviet Union	1932–1933	Soviet police	Ukrainians	3–7 million
Nazi-occupied Europe	1941–1945	Nazis and collaborators	Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals	21 million
Indonesia	1965–1966	Indonesian military and police	Indonesian Communists	500,000
Guatemala	1968–1993	Guatemalan military and police	Mayans	200,000
Bangladesh	1971	Pakistani military	Bengalis	1–3 million
Burundi	1972	Tutsi military, police, and paramilitaries	Hutu	100,000–150,000
East Timor	1975–1999	Indonesian military	East Timorese	200,000
Cambodia	1975–1979	Khmer Rouge	Ethnic Chinese, Ethnic Vietnamese, Ethnic Chams, Buddhist Monks, Educated Classes	1–2 million
Iraq	1988	Iraqi military	Kurds	500,000–100,000
Bosnia	1992–1995	Bosnian Serbs	Bosnian Muslims	250,000
Rwanda	1994	Hutu military, police, and paramilitaries	Tutsis	800,000

Why Do Genocides Happen?

Genocide does NOT simply unfold as a sudden and unexpected catastrophe.
Four Motivators for Genocide:
Developmental: targeted groups seen as an impediment to the colonization and/or exploitation of a given geographic area
Despotic: government wields genocide as a weapon against rivals for political power
Ideological: attempted destruction of a population because of a belief system; seeking utopia
Retributive: one group wages war against another in the struggle for political and social power

Society Types from Genocidal to Permissive

Source: Horowitz, I. L. (1997). Taking lives: Genocide and state power (fourth ed., expanded and Revised. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

Precursors to Genocide

Perpetrated almost exclusively by totalitarian states
Leaders of these governments are megamurderers
Stalin’s Soviet Union
Mao’s China
Hitler’s Germany
Government leadership based on fear and coercion
War enables genocide
Universe of obligation and heightened feelings of marginalization experienced by targeted scapegoat groups during a war

Perpetrators of Genocide

Most genocide participants are ordinary people who believe in the necessity of their action
“Banality of evil”
9 primary motivations for participations
Ideological
Bigoted
Violent
Fearful
Careerist
Materialist
Disciplined
Comradely
Bureaucratic

Victims of Genocide

When People Do Nothing

Genocide depends on bystanders who defer to powerful government authority.
Stanley Milgram experiment
Most people believe that nothing can be done and that they are too powerless to stop the violence.
Many also agree with the policies of destruction that result in genocide.
International community also stands by without taking action.

International Law and Genocide

There is hope that the next century will not be as dreadful as the last
Netherlands Institute of War Documentation
International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
International Criminal Court
Increasing strength if International Human Rights Law and weakening of National Sovereignty

Conclusions

International law has gained a new potency and preeminence in recent years.
We are continually (re)defining the nature of international relations and justice.

Open-Access Student Resources

· SAGE journal articles

· Multimedia resources

and more at study.sagepub.com/alvarez3e

Alvarez/Bachman, Violence: The Enduring Problem, 3rd Edition