Understanding Genocide & Hate
Crimes
Presented at LIFE at UCF October 6, 2015
Mark Winton
Department of Criminal Justice
University of Central Florida
Research Focus
• The purpose of this presentation is to conduct
a comparative analysis of two case studies
from the Bosnian genocide: a “willing
executioner” and an “unwilling executioner”
using Lonnie Athens’ violentization theory.
Violentization Theory
• Developed by Lonnie Athens (1994, 1997,
2010, 2015).
• This is a new approach to hate crimes and
genocide.
• Explains the hate process leading to violent
actions.
• Can be used to examine individuals, groups,
communities & entire societies.
Violentization Theory
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Brutalization
Defiance
Violent Dominance Engagement
Virulency
Extreme Virulency (Violent Predation)
Violentization Theory
• Brutalization- One is taught how to engage in
violent behavior through observation and
demonstration.
Violentization Theory
• Defiance- A belief system is presented to the
individual or group that is supportive of the
use of violent behavior.
Violentization Theory
• Violent Dominance Engagement-Engaging in
violent acts to test out the results.
Violentization Theory
• Virulency- The individual or group define
themselves as violent and dangerous.
Violentization Theory
• Extreme Virulency/Violent Predation-Recently
added to the four stages to include extreme
violent behavior.
Phantom Communities
• Athens (1994) identified a sounding board
(internal dialogue) that people use to make
sense of themselves and situations.
• In cases of genocide, the phantom community
is the voice that allows, encourages, and
supports hatred and violence toward a
constructed enemy.
Self-Image Change
• Athens also pointed out that the person’s selfimage changes as the phantom others and
communities change.
• This explains how nonviolent individuals
become dangerous and violent.
Domination
• The key variable?
Data Sources
• Previous studies: Winton (2008) & Winton &
Unlu (2008) using the court transcripts from
the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The Two Case Studies
• Dusko Tadic claimed he was innocent and did
not engage in any violent behavior. He was
convicted of crimes related to murder, torture,
rape, and slavery. He was in a leadership role.
• Drazen Erdemovic admitted his guilt for the
crimes and explained how he got into the
situation and how he thought and felt about
his violent actions. He was in a follower role.
Tadic
• President of the Local Board of the Serb
Democratic Party.
• Convicted of murder, torture or inhumane
treatment, and willfully causing great suffering or
serious injury to body or health.
• Participated in the collection and transfer of
citizens to concentration camps, and tortured,
raped, and killed citizens.
• Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
• He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Tadic
• His family had been victimized during World War
II.
• During the conflict, he became more
nationalized, displayed communication that
indicated hatred toward other groups, and
presented symbols of power and control.
• He also displayed characteristics of
hypermasculinity.
• It is reported that he became more religious
during the conflict.
Tadic
• Witness reports from the Omarska Prison:
– The environment had become virulent or a
malignant violent community characterized by
chaos and ultra-violent behavior.
– There are reports of beatings with iron bars,
covering prisoners with oil, forced sexual violence,
forcing prisoners to eat live animals, humiliation,
and killings.
– One witness described the group torture as if it
was a football game.
Tadic
• The witness then saw that same prisoner
being cut by the accused with a knife, “sliced
as if once one slices chops”, and having black
liquid, probably oil, poured over him. At that
point this witness then lost consciousness.
(Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic a/k/a “Dule”, 1997,
paragraph 225).
Tadic
• He cut victims with a knife, beat them with
batons, discharged a fire extinguisher into the
mouth of a victim, participated in group rapes,
and sexual mutilation of male prisoners.
Tadic
• TADIC also physically took part or otherwise
participated in the torture of more than 12
female detainees, including several gang
rapes, which occurred both in the camp and at
a white house adjacent to the camp…
(Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic a/k/a “Dule”, 1997,
paragraph 452).
Tadic
• He engaged in extreme violence toward the
constructed enemy.
• Tadic went through the all stages of the
violentization process culminating in extreme
virulency.
Erdemovic
• Drazen Erdemovic was a soldier in the Bosnian
Serb Army.
• He participated as a member of a firing squad
responsible for killing hundreds of Bosnian
Muslim citizens.
• He is reported to have killed approximately 70
people.
Erdemovic
• At his initial appearance, he pleaded guilty .
• He was then referred for psychiatric and
psychological evaluation.
• He was reported to have post-traumatic stress
that precluded him from standing trial.
• Later, he continued with his guilty plea
(Prosecutor v. Drazen Erdemovic, 1998,
paragraph 5).
Erdemovic
• Erdemovic admitted to his crimes and assisted
the court with other cases.
• Mitigating factors were addressed by the
court. He was described as a pacifist, with no
criminal record who joined the military to feed
his family.
• He reported that he tried to avoid killing
others and there is evidence that he tried to
save people from death.
Erdemovic
• He has multi-ethnic friends and did not
demonstrate nationalistic beliefs.
• He cooperated with the court and showed
remorse for his crimes.
• The “kill or be killed” theme comes up several
times in the court transcripts.
Erdemovic
• Erdemovic reported that he committed the
killings under threat of death:
• “Your Honour, I had to do this. If I had refused, I
would have been killed together with the victims.
When I refused, they told me: “If you are sorry
for them, stand up, line up with them and we will
kill you too”. I am not sorry for myself but for my
family my wife and son who then had nine
months, and I could not refuse because they
would have killed me.” (Prosecutor v. Drazen
Erdemovic, 1998, paragraph 14).
Erdemovic
• The perpetrator showed remorse for his
violent behavior.
• The accused told Trial Chamber I that: “I only
wish to say that I feel sorry for all the victims,
not only for the ones who were killed then at
that farm. I feel sorry for all the victims in the
former [sic] Bosnia and Herzegovina
regardless of their nationality”(Prosecutor v.
Drazen Erdemovic, 1998, paragraph 16).
Erdemovic
• Completed the violent dominance
engagements stage.
Comparisons
Brutalization
Defiance
Violent
Dominance
Engagements
Virulency
Extreme
Virulency
Tadic
Yes
Yes
Yes
Erdemovic
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Comparisons
Types of Interpretations
Types of generalized
others
Victimization of family
Age
Expression of
nationalistic beliefs
Conflict with other
groups
Statements of hatred
toward other
Tadic
Erdemovic
Frustrative-malefic
(hatred & fear combined)
Unmitigated violent
generalized other
Yes
Late 30s
Yes
Physically defensive
(fear based)
Mitigated violent
generalized other
Unknown
Early 20s
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Comparisons
Support of ethnic
cleansing
Hit prisoners
Beat prisoners
Humiliated prisoners
Used weapons on
prisoners
Tortured prisoners
Sexual violence
Tadic
Erdemovic
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Comparisons
Use of symbols to create
cohesion of group and
negative view of other
Became more religious
Use of propaganda to
elicit fears and threats
Hypermasculinity
displays or statements
Leadership role
Tadic
Erdemovic
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Comparisons
Reluctance to use
violence
Dehumanization of
victims
Constructed threat of
violence if violent
action not taken
Against the killings
Segments of
violence
Tadic
No
Erdemovic
Yes
Yes
No
Yes?
Yes
No
Many
Yes
Few
Comparisons
Time frame of
violence
Mental Illness after
violence
Admitted guilt
Remorseful
Dominant actions
Tried to help others
Tadic
Erdemovic
Long
Short
Unknown
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Limitations
• Only two cases are compared in this study.
• Inability to directly ask the offenders how they
constructed their situations.
• May need to further specify indicators of each
stage.
• Interpretations are based on their behaviors,
court report presentations, and statements by
third parties.
Further Research
• Critique other theories.
• Focus on the deviolentization process.
• Address early warning signs and procedures to
disrupt the violentization process.
• Examine time frames for the violentization
process.
Thank You
• Questions and Comments
• Mark Winton, Department of Criminal Justice,
University of Central Florida
• Mark.Winton@ucf.edu
• All photographs and maps are courtesy of the
ICTY and may be viewed and downloaded
from their website. The two slides of
textbooks are from the author’s files.
References
• Athens, L. (1994). The self as a soliloquy. Sociological
Quarterly, 35, 521-532.
• Athens, L. (1997). Violent criminal acts and actors revisited.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
• Athens, L. (2003). Violentization in larger social context. In L.
Athens & J. T. Ulmer (Eds.), Violent acts and violentization:
Assessing, applying, and developing Lonnie Athens’ theories
(pp. 1-41). Boston: Elsevier Science.
• Athens, L. (2010). Naturalistic inquiry in theory and practice.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 39, 87-125.
• Athens, L. (2015). Violentization: A relatively singular theory
of violent crime. Deviant
• Behavior, 36, 623-639.
References
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Prosecutor v. Drazen Erdemovic, Sentencing Judgement, 5 March 1998,
Case No. IT-9622. Retrieved from
http://www.un.org/icty/erdemovic/trialc/judgement/erd-tsj980305e.htm.
Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic a/k/a “Dule”, Opinion and Judgement Case No.
IT-94-1-T (1997). Retrieved from
http://www.un.org/icty/tadic/trialc2/judgement/index.htm
Winton, M. (2008). Dimensions of genocide: The circumplex model meets
violentization theory. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 605-629. Retrieved
from
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-4/winton.pdf
Winton, M. A., & Unlu, A. (2008). Micro-macro dimensions of the Bosnian
genocides: the circumplex model and violentization theory. Aggression
and Violent Behavior, 13, 45-59.
Winton, M.A. (2011). Violentization theory and genocide. Homicide
Studies, 15, 363-381.