"In this ground-breaking volume, Prof. Smeulers summarizes findings of three decades of research on perpetrators of mass atrocities. On the basis of her extensive database, she developed an original classification of more than a dozen types of perpetrators. Surprisingly, this typology manages to unlock the door to a new and differentiated understanding of evil as specific human weaknesses that allow certain manifestations of violence to occur. In doing so, she offers the international criminal justice system a new instrument to assess levels of responsibility for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and terrorism."
Prof. em. Alex P. Schmid, former Research Coordinator of PIOOM the Interdisciplinary Research Programme on
Root Causes of Human Rights Violations.
"This is an outstanding book. It classifies high level perpetrators of extreme mass violence, the killing of large numbers of people, such as the Criminal Mastermind, the Careerist, the Fanatic, the True Believer, altogether 14 categories. It gives detailed examples of each type, from varied countries, describing their life histories and actions. The book is highly informative, easy to read, a tremendous contribution to the literature on atrocities."
Ervin Staub,
Professor Emeritus of Psychology, author of The Roots of Evil
, Overcoming Evil,
and The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil
.
"Smeuler's typology of perpetrators of mass atrocities authoritatively deconstructs the criminal pyramid to unfold the role(s) played by each actor in the spiral leading to the Unthinkable. Building a bridge to the courtroom, Smeulers' typology is key to apprehend individual criminal responsibility. A must-read for international criminal law practitioners."
Caroline Fournet,
Professor of Law at the University of Exeter and Editor-in-Chief of International Criminal Law Review
.
"Alette Smeulers has written an amazing book that is a must-read for scholars and policy makers in the field of atrocity crimes and human rights in general. Drawing on her previous work about persons engaged in extreme violence and serious human rights violations, she has now produced an extensive and innovative typology of perpetrators. Each of them contains activities, justifications, personality traits and the social context of specific offenders and their offences. This book hugely increases the readers' understanding of the who, why and how of the heinous crimes committed, and also provide very valuable options for the repression and prevention of such behaviour."
Stephan Parmentier,
Professor of Criminology and Human Rights at KU Leuven, and Specialized in Political Crimes and Transitional Justice
