Victimology of Atrocity Crimes

Antony Pemberton, Rianne Letschert

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

Recent years have seen a flourishing interest in victimology - the social science of the experience of suffering wrongdoing - of atrocity crimes. However, like victimology more generally, supranational victimology is still in its infancy. This chapter draws upon the phenomenology of Susan Brison to develop ethical experience of victimization of victims of atrocity crimes. In this perspective a key ethical quality of victimization is its nature as an ontological assault, an attack on being that reveals features of being in precisely what it damages/diminishes/destroys. This has implications for the reactions to atrocity crimes, such as various initiatives to deliver justice to victims. The chapter develops the differences between countering injustice and doing justice, and sketches how processes of justice given their inherent limitations can contribute to counter injustice.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Atrocity Crimes
EditorsBarbora Holá, Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira, Maartje Weerdesteijn
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherOxford University Press
Chapter20
Pages461–480
ISBN (Electronic)9780190915636
ISBN (Print)9780190915629
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Mar 2022

Publication series

SeriesOxford Handbooks

Keywords

  • victimology
  • injustice
  • phenomenology
  • ontological assault
  • countering injustice
  • doing justice
  • legalism

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