Alette Smeulers

University of Groningen | RUG · Department of criminal law and criminology

The Oxford Handbook on Atrocity Crimes consolidates and further develops the evolving field of atrocity studies by combining major mono-, inter-, and multidisciplinary research on atrocity crimes in one volume encompassing contributions of leading scholars. Atrocity crimes—war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide—are manifestations of larg...

Milgram’s obedience to authority experiments were conducted more than 50 years ago and can undoubtfully be considered one of the most important but also most controversial studies ever conducted. In the last few years (2011-2015), a book on Milgram was published, a film made and 4 international peer-reviewed journals dedicated a special issue to Mi...

This chapter provides a historical overview of perpetrator studies. Starting with the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War, the defendants were mainly studied by psychologists and psychiatrists. The contemporary predominant belief was that perpetrators of mass atrocities were mentally disturbed. Raul Hilberg’s book on the Holocaust, and Hann...

The chapter focuses on the difficulties scholars can experience when studying perpetrators. These can be practical, moral, and ethical. Probably the most difficult issue scholars have to deal with are their own emotions. Sometimes scholars may be disgusted by the perpetrator’s crimes or their indifference, but sometimes (perhaps even more worrisome...

This chapter provides an overview of the most prominent theories, methods, and evidence in perpetrator studies. It outlines the most important theories within the field focusing on the individual perpetrator, his/her immediate situation, and the broader societal and cultural context. In addition, it describes the extent to which these theories are...

The main aim of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is to prosecute the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. One of the most valued features of the ICC is the independent position of the Prosecutor in selecting situations and cases to investigate. The Prosecutor, however, has been heavily criticized for his selection po...

Only a very small percentage of the perpetrators convicted by international criminal courts and tribunals are women. This raises the question as to whether women are less evil than men. Within the literature it is generally assumed that the genocide in Rwanda was unprecedented in relation to the role played by women, and that it is the first and on...

Abram de Swaan (2014) Compartimenten van vernietiging. Over genocidale regimes en hun daders. Amsterdam: Prometheus/Bert Bakker. 320 pagina’s, € 24,95, ISBN 9789035140813.

Combined with traditional qualitative data and testimonies, population-based studies may assist investigators and prosecutors of international judicial institutions in the identification of perpetrator groups and in defining the types of international crimes committed by active perpetrator groups during conflict. This research—based on a secondary...

The international criminal justice system comprises nine international criminal courts and tribunals; six are still operational and three have closed down. On average, they operated for almost nine years apiece and concluded 172 cases in which over 250 judges and 23 chief prosecutors were involved. All in all 745 suspects were indicted, 356 were ac...

The international criminal justice system comprises nine international criminal courts and tribunals; six are still operational and three have closed down. On average, they operated for almost nine years apiece and concluded 172 cases in which over 250 judges and 23 chief prosecutors were involved. All in all 745 suspects were indicted, 356 were ac...

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are the first, post Cold War international criminal tribunals convicting perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Their sentencing practice has been largely criticized as inconsistent. This quantitative study add...

The sentencing practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is a relatively neglected topic in academic discussions. The few empirical studies on sentencing of international crimes have focused primarily on the sentencing practice of its 'sister court', the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Unlik...

An interdisciplinary approach to international crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other gross human rights violations for students, scholars, professionals and practitioners to get an insight in the roles of perpetrators and bystanders.

This comparative, empirical study analyses the sentencing practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). It would appear that there are large differences in ICTY and ICTR sentencing practice. This apparent divergence is examined in greater detail by describ...

The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 stands out for the enormous number of people killed in a relatively short period of time; the mass involvement of the civilian population and the extreme and violent nature of the killings: victims were hunted down, beaten, raped and mutilated before being killed by machetes. This article describes how, within a polit...

This quantitative study analyses the sentencing practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The sentencing process is only loosely regulated by the ICTY Statute, and consequently it is not clear how judges exercise their broad discretionary sentencing powers in practice. By analysing the existing case law, lega...

Rape is regularly committed during a period of collective violence such as war. The article discusses the Rwandan genocide during which rape was used with the deliberate intent to destroy in whole or in part the Tutsi community. Rape is not often studied in such particular contexts, so little is known about its prevalence in genocide; as a conseque...

The pictures of the inhuman and abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison shocked the world. The authors of this contribution will take a criminological approach to the crimes committed and will show—by using an analytical framework used by organizational criminologists—that the abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib was an inevitable...

How do we and how should we punish perpetrators of international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide? Is it fair to hold individuals responsible for their role in manifestations of this type of collective violence? Do the punishments issued by international criminal institutions support the usual penological rationales?...

Dit stuk gaat over de daders van en omstanders bij grootschalige mensenrechtenschendingen waarbij vergelijkingen worden gemaakt van gebeurtenissen en kenmerken van deze schendingen tijdens de Holocaust en heden ten dage. Het werd gepresendeerd tijdens de conferentie "The Second International Conference on the Holocaust and Education; The Memory of...