Summary
Contents
Subject index
Part 3: Explores institutional responses to crimes and uses criminological theory to offer solutions
When are Atrocities Crimes?
When are Atrocities Crimes?
Sketching human history as a history of atrocities, we see that atrocities were not always considered crimes, modern behavioral definitions and ideas of natural law notwithstanding. Yet, perpetrators of the twentieth century drew false lessons from this history when they believed they could act with impunity. New conditions had taken hold to pave the way for a new understanding of atrocities as crimes.
All human history, at least the history of state-organized societies, is also a history of atrocities, defined here as behaviors, through which government agents or others invited or tolerated by governments, impose immense cruelty upon segments of a population. An examination of numerous world regions throughout history reveals a multitude of institutional mechanisms through which people ...
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