The Integration of Criminological Tools in Profiling Architects of Genocide

This paper aims to integrate criminological tools with the existing, predominantly political study of architects of genocide. We find that current studies of these individuals center on their political careers, with their decisions regarding the genocides rooted solely within these contexts. However, given that the nature of genocide is intrinsically criminal, we propose that profiling perpetrators as criminals provides a more comprehensive understanding as to their motivations and reasoning. In order to carry out this evaluation, we consider the cases of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide, the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, and the Anfal genocide. Given that each of these cases took place within the context of a war, we find most studies on the key perpetrators revolve around strategic and ideological decision-making frameworks. We aim to bolster this framework with the tools employed by criminologists to evaluate criminals. In particular, we find the psychological and sociological insights into the minds of criminals to be pertinent. Looking beyond their political careers and, more generally, at their personal evolutions, we apply these insights to sources such as personal diaries and trial testimonies to identify personal characteristics which influenced their behaviours. We find this to be particularly insightful for understanding weapons of genocide beyond mass killings, such as sexual aggression, which indicate motivations that surpass political goals. Overall, we aim to provide not only ex-post descriptive findings on these particular architects of genocide, but also the schematic for a more nuanced, multi-disciplinary approach to understanding such individuals generally, thus shedding light on the nature of the crime of genocide as a whole.