KRM220 Section B Exam Pack Part 1 PDF

Criminology (KRM220) – Section B: Political Crimes Theme 4 – Assassination Learning Outcomes i. Define the concept assassination ii. Discuss the causes of assassination iii. Discuss the implications of an assassination of a political leader iv. Discuss the policy implications of political as...

Criminology (KRM220) – Section B: Political Crimes Theme 4 – Assassination Learning Outcomes i. Define the concept assassination ii. Discuss the causes of assassination iii. Discuss the implications of an assassination of a political leader iv. Discuss the policy implications of political assassinations Introduction • Assassination has been a part of social reality since the emergence of communal framework − Used by leaders of tribes & villages to defend their statuses − Featured in the rise & fall of empires (E.g., Alexander the Great) − Continues to play an important role in modern times • Assassinations are understudied & poorly understood Defining Assassination • Political Assassination: the deliberate, premediated murder of a prominent figure for political reasons a) What? → The murder of public figures b) Who? → government leaders & prominent persons c) Why? → political purposes, such as: 1. Seize power 2. Start revolution 3. Draw attention to a cause 4. Exact revenge 5. Undermine a regime or its critics d) Where? → assassination occurs in all parts of the world e) When? → assassination has occurred in different periods in history Causes of Assassination • Political assassinations may occur more frequently when there is less security/authority, increasing opportunity for attacks & violence in the country • Causes of assassination: 1. Restrictions on political competition & strong polarization & fragmentation 2. Lack of consensual political ethos & homogenous populations − Lack of guiding principles, values or beliefs within a society that shares similar characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, religion, culture, language) − Politically deprived groups result in a decline in the legitimacy of political leadership & systems 3. Territorial fragmentation of a country − Loss of control over some parts of a country to opposing groups − When a country’s territory is divided/fragmented, different regions have different levels of control & stability • Facilitators of assassination: 1. Politicians must be susceptible to assassinations − Lack clear succession rules & enjoy power 2. Non-democratic political environment − Leaders attain power while the state lacks potential for leadership change • Targets of assassination: 1. Heads of state 2. Lower-ranking political figures 3. Legislators − Civil/domestic disputes at a national level − Acts of protest against an existing political order 4. Opposition leaders − More likely to be targeted in authoritarian systems/weak democracies − This environment provides space for an emerging opposition Implication of Assassinations • Political assassinations intensify prospects of a state’s fragmentation & undermine its democratic nature • Implications/consequences of the assassination of 1. Head of State a) Decline in democratic nature of a political system b) Increase in domestic violence & instability c) Economic prosperity (rise of a more open economic system ) 2. Opposition Leaders – limited impact on the nature of the political system a) Increase overall unrest b) Increase in domestic violence 3. Legislators a) Public unrest (anti-government demonstrations) b) Decline in legitimacy of the government Policy Implications • Role of policy makers: 1. Promotion of political & social conditions → Political participation declines assassinations 2. Addressing political grievances → Declines violent assassinations 3. Stable & regulated succession mechanisms’ 4. Stable routines & protocols & creation of institution 5. Safety of political & opposition leaders • Most assassins were previously involved in criminal activities − Veterans may be preferred to perform an assassination Theme 5 – Genocide Learning Outcomes i. Define genocide according to the United Nations’ Convention ii. Discuss the key definitional elements of genocide, emerging rom modern case law iii. Define the concept ‘ethnic cleansing’ & explain how it relates to genocide iv. Discuss how genocide & ethnic cleansing are viewed by international humanitarian law v. Provide an exposition of Pramono’s classification of the degrees of genocide vi. Distinguish between ideological & pragmatic genocide vii. Give an overview of the factors that contribute to genocide viii. Identity the strategies that offenders of genocide use to conceal their actions Genocide & Ethnic Cleansing in International Humanitarian Law • Genocide (UN): Any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group: 1. Killing members of a group 2. Causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of a group 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group’s conditions of life to bring about physical destruction, in whole or in part 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group 5. Forcibly transferring children of a group to another group Genocide vs Terrorism Genocide Terrorism Aim → systematically destroy a specific ethnic, Aim → create fear, panic or political change racial or religious group using mall killing using violence against civilians & government Extermination Targets society for political/ideological reasons Key Definitional Elements of Genocide • Destruction: limited to physical or biological destruction of the group − Legal application of genocide is confined to physical or biological destruction − Dissolutions of the group’s unit or collective identity falls part of genocide • In part: a ‘part’ of the group must be a substantial part of that group − Quantitative assessment based on the size of the group & their role − Must be a significant portion of that group • Groups: collection of people with a particular group identity − Limited to ‘stable & permanent’ groups: a) National: collective of people who are perceived to share a legal bond based on common citizenship, rights & duties b) Ethnical: same language & culture c) Racial: geographical region, hereditary physical traits regardless of linguistics, culture, national or religious factors d) Religious: same religion or worship − Status of a group is subjectively determined by the perspective of the perpetrator • Specific conduct: methods of physical destruction, other than killing, whereby the perpetrator ultimately seeks the death of the members of the group − Deliberately inflicting on the conditions of life of a group, calculated to bring about destruction − Serious bodily or mental harm does not necessarily have to be permanent or irremediable − Examples of specific conduct: 1. Torture → Intentionally causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group 2. Cruel, inhumane, degrading treatment 3. Rape/sexual violence → Rape is committed in order to prevent births - women are seen as ‘stained’ once they have been raped, preventing men from procreating with them → To qualify, it must actually affect the capacity of members of the group to procreate 4. Non-fatal physical violence that causes disfigurement/serious injury to the external organs 5. Enslavement 6. Starvation 7. Deportation/forced displacement → Sanction acts of threat or trauma lead to the forcible transfer of children from one group to another 8. Persecution 9. Detention in ghetto’s/camps 10. Death threats during interrogation 11. Beatings 12. Surviving genocidal massacres • Intent: genocide requires the special intent to destroy the group, in whole or in part − Intent may be inferred & doesn’t have to be based on express statements Ethnic Cleansing • Ethnic Cleansing: purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove, by violence & terror-inspiring means, the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas − Carried out in the name of: a) Misguided nationalism b) Historic grievances c) Powerful driving force for revenge • Ethnic cleansing is carried out through murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention, extrajudicial executions, rape, etc. Pramono’s Classification of Genocide 1. First Degree Genocide (Absolute / Intentional Genocide) − 3 requirements: a) Mental element b) Material element c) Destruction of a human group − Ethnic cleansing (e.g., Rwandan genocide) 2. Second Degree Genocide (Unintentional genocide) − Mental element is missing – 2 requirements: a) Material element b) Destruction of a human group − Typically committed under conditions of war (e.g., USA & Vietnam) 3. Third Degree Genocide (Genocidal mass death) − Lacks both mental & material elements – destruction of a human group − Occurs as a by-product of reckless or negligent policies − E.g., Brazil’s environmental policies − This type of genocide is the outcome of mass-death inducing acts & policies that lack intent & knowledge as well as direct genocidal acts 4. Ideological Genocide (Politicides) − Aim: achieve utopia, divided into: a) Progressive Genocide: aim for a classless society in the totalitarian Marxist-Leninist tradition, commonly to secure results of a revolution → Believe a 2-stage communist revolution needs to replace capitalism → E.g., Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge Regime b) Reactionary Genocide: strive for a “racially pure” nation-state or establishing a capitalist economic regime at any cost → E.g., killing of Jews by Nazis 5. Pragmatic Genocide − 3 types: a) Developmental Genocide: occurs when political leadership aims to eliminate “backward” people & their cultures → Destruction of culture & way of life of a people, as a result of economic development (urbanisation & modernisation) b) Retributive Genocide: occurs when an ethnic minority or politically oppressed group seeks revenge of past injustice → E.g., Rwandan genocide (April-July 194) c) Hegemonic Genocide: seizing & maintaining political power Genocide • Factors leading to Genocide: 1. Ethnicity, nationality & religion 2. Economic dependency, underdevelopment, destitution 3. Limited physical resources 4. Usurpation of political power & marginalisation 5. Quelling of insurgencies or threat of coupe d’état 6. Earlier genocide 7. Colonial & alien administrative systems 8. Artificial national & substantial boundaries 9. Role of colonial powers & world superpowers • Sources of Genocide: 1. Ethnicity, nationality & religion may constitute a source of genocide − When exploited for oppression or a political struggle 2. Underdevelopment & destruction − When combined with ethnic, nationalistic or religious cleavages 3. Limited resources & rapid population growth − Lead to ethnic, regional or interpersonal rivalry 4. Political power prone to marginalise other groups & strip them of their voice & means of influence 5. Form of extinguishing ethnic rebellion or a threat of violent political upheaval 6. Historical (colonialism) • Strategies used by offenders of genocide to conceal & palliate cruelties: 1. Deny genocide has occurred ‘ 2. Belittle the scope of the crime 3. Genocide presented as justified 4. Banning genocide by labelling it as a dispute between ethnic or religious groups or as a usual part of war 5. Both sides commit the act – justifies the former victims’ attempts of revenge Theme 6 – Military Rape and Enforced Pregnancy Learning Outcomes i. Discuss what the Brana plan entails ii. Provide an exposition of 3 forms of mass rape iii. Discuss the logic behind enforced pregnancies iv. Discuss the statement that sperm can be used as a biological weapon v. Discuss male genocidal rape Brana Plan – Introduction: • Brana plan was endorsed by military officers & distinguished between: a) Serbian rapes – morally, politically & militarily motivated b) Rapes by Bosnians & others – retaliatory rapes • Aim of the Brana plan → destruction of the targeted groups (genocidal rape) − Brana plan was similar to ethnic cleansing & perpetrators shared this view − Not all war rapes are committed with genocidal intent - aim of war rapes, as policy, is not always to destroy the groups to which the victim belongs • Serbian officers targeted women, adolescents & children as the most vulnerable spots in social & religious structures of Muslim communities − Reasons women, children & adolescents were targeted: 1. Women & children are almost always unarmed 2. Not trained to fight 3. Vulnerable as they cannot up resistance 4. Sexual innocence of adolescent women → They are seen to have something to lose that could be considered precious to the future community → Adolescent women are the reproducers of the society – if they were raped, they wouldn’t want to engage in sex → They may also be stigmatised & Muslim men would not want to engage in sex with them Mass Rape • 3 forms of mass rape: 1. First Form ➢ Military forces enter a village, take several women of varying ages from their homes, rape them in public view & depart ➢ Several days later, soldiers from the army arrive & offer the traumatised & terrified residents a safe passage away from the village, under the condition they do not return ➢ Aim → acquire land (village is then taken over by soldiers) 2. Second Form ➢ Persons held in concentration camps are chosen at random to be raped ➢ Often as part of torture preceding death (raped to death) ➢ Aim → torture & murder 3. Third Form ➢ Women are imprisoned in rape/death camps and systematically raped for extended periods of time ➢ Pregnant victims are raped consistently until it’s not safe to abort, at which point they are released ➢ Aim → torture preceding death OR torture leading to forced pregnancy Logic Behind Enforced Pregnancy • Enforced pregnancy could constitute genocide • Intent of Serbian rapists → produce Serb children − Serb perpetrators thought that the presence of these children would change the identity of the next generation − They believed this would alter the identity of the community to something more Serbian • Child born of military rape will contain genes of both biological parents, but will likely be raised by the mother if she survives − Consequently, the child will take on the mother’s culture • Military rape aimed at enforced pregnancy in rape/death camps (3 rd form mass rape) was committed with genocidal intent − Genocide Convention 1948 did not anticipate that acts of rape may be committed with intent to destroy a group • A plan to produce births seems contrary to genocide as it appears to increase rather than decrease the target population • Forced pregnancies could become genocidal because of misogynous cruelties of the culture to which the women belong − Women who were raped by the ‘enemy’ are shunned − Likelihood of them reproducing another child with someone of the same culture is greatly reduced Sperm as a Biological Weapon • Enforced pregnancy uses sperm as a biological weapon − Genocidal rape can be viewed as a crime of biological warfare • Biological Warfare: use of bacteriological or viral organisms that quickly make people sick with contagious diseases that spread rapidly through a population − Diseases cause death, permanent disability or disfigurement − Biological weapons destroy people & their will to fight without destroying the inhabited territory − However, it can also make a territory uninhabitable for a long time − Since these are not fine-tuneable weapons that can be made to target specific individuals, there is a danger of blow-back • Rape & enforced pregnancy can destroy the morale of the people − Especially in inflicted on the youth, who represent hope for the future • If the objective is to undermine the will to fight, mass rape & enforced pregnancy are effectively an infectious disease − Soldiers are motivated to fight to protect their homes, families & futures of their communities − If families become direct targets, there is nothing to fight for • Aim of a direct attack on civilian women → motivate men to cease fighting − Attack doesn’t have to produce illness, but is designed to cause social chaos • Use of sperm as a biological weapon – biological warfare (sperm) used to attack a biological system (reproductive system) in members of the enemy population − Use the reproductive system against the people − Social & psychological toxin - poisons future victims & their communities, by producing children who remind their mother of their traumatic origins in torture • Many of the impregnated women: 1. Attempted 3rd trimester abortions 2. Suicide or infanticide 3. Walked out of hospital & left the baby traumatising to there 4. Tried to find someone less traumatised to raise the child • Sperm is easily containable, storable, preservable & deliverable by means of men’s bodies − Unlike bacteria & viruses – doesn’t require special equipment • Since rape & enforced pregnancy are effective in terrorising a community out of a territory, sperm as a weapon does not risk making the territory uninhabitable • Women who give birth to them are so traumatised that they may never regain the desire to engage in sexual relationships & procreate further → Military rape aimed at enforced pregnancy contributed to a bigger plan of ethnic cleansing, which was genocidal in its intent Enforced Pregnancy as Causing Destruction of the Community & Social Death • Brana plan involved Serb soldiers raping Muslim women & enforcing their pregnancies until the foetuses could not be aborted • 4 possible ways Brana plan’s policy of enforced pregnancy can constitute genocide: 1. Resulting children could be seen as Serbs because of their genetic origin ➢ Muslim women would be bearing the children of their enemies 2. Raped women were stigmatised & ostracised, eliminating them from society ➢ Particularly those who have born children from rape ➢ Pregnant women are treated even worse – pregnancy while unmarried is often treated as a crime, even when it results from rape 3. Might destroy the community if raped women are unwilling or unable to reproduce the next generation 4. Existence of unwanted children, who are the product of rape by the enemy, could cause social chaos to the extent of destroying the culture & institutions Male Genocidal Rape • The progress on the recognition of genocidal rape in international criminal law is due to the advocacy of feminist groups − Feminist NGOs influenced the agenda of the 1948 U.N. World Conference on Human Rights − The argument that women’s rights are human rights has transformed the concept of human rights from a feminist perspective • In the process of promoting awareness of genocidal rape, feminist advocacy unintentionally excluded male victims from the definition’s implications − While the definition is gender neutral, the dialogue surrounding the definition & supporting research dealt mainly with female victims − Female victims outnumber male victims, but this may be inaccurate due to the patriarchal societies with high levels of shame • Since the main discourse dominated by feminists does not address male victims, little is known about genocidal male rape, but incidents include: − Sexually mutilated men − Men forced to have intercourse with dead animals − Men & young boys beaten to erection − Men forced to place their genitals in sand-filled holes − Tusi men forced to have intercourse with other Tusi victims • Some Serbian detention camps housed both Muslim men & women & purposefully limited their interactions − When the 2 groups were brought together, female prisoners were forced to undress in front of the male prisoners − Any male prisoner that had an erection had his penis cut off − Those who were mutilated were no longer able to have sexual intercourse − Those who witnessed the castration were deterred from engaging in future sexual intercourse due to the trauma of seeing an erection met with violence • Enforced sterilisation may amount to genocide, if the intent is to destroy their ethnic group − Enforced sterilisation & other male-targeted sexual offences are used in the genocidal context to prohibit men from procreating, to destroy their ethnic group • Castration, penile amputation & enforced sterilisation in armed conflicts date back centuries − Armies of ancient Persia, Greece, China, Amalek, Egypt & Scandinavia • Tutsi Men (Rwandan Genocide) were similarly targeted by Hutu forces − This led to the extermination of the community − Tutsi males were killed in violent public demonstrations & castrated in large numbers − Despite the policy claims, Hutus desired to eliminate further generations of Tutsis