The mass crimes in the former Yugoslavia: participation, punishment and prevention?

This article discusses sanctions for and the prevention of mass violence. But rather than take a classic approach centred on statutory players such as soldiers, officers or political leaders, all of them acting within a legal chain of command, I focus on nonstate perpetrators. My reflections are based on case studies of four former Serbian militiamen who took part in mass violence in the former Yugoslavia. I argue that it is of the utmost importance to consider the typical grass-roots relationship between these local players and their own community, so as to maximize the effect of sanctions and perhaps prevent further offences by potential future perpetrators. Mass crimes: legal and sociological approaches What influence would international, national or local criminal sanctions have on the armed bands who took part in mass crimes in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1990s? I argue that to prevent and punish such acts, it is first necessary to assess and understand the perpetrators’ experience of participation in mass violence. To begin with, two approaches to the study of ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ or genocide, as in the former Yugoslavia or Rwanda, may be Volume 90 Number 870 June 2008