Desire for Revenge and Attitudes Toward the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Among Cambodians

Abstract

This study examined determinants of desire for revenge among survivors of the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime and its impact on attitudes toward the upcoming KR justice tribunal. The KR genocide resulted in the deaths of approximately 2 million Cambodians. Almost 30 years later, a UN-ratified tribunal is finally about to get under way to put on trial the few remaining leaders of the KR regime. One hundred thirty survivors of the KR regime currently living in Cambodia were administered a broad set of measures relevant to trauma-related adjustment and attitudes toward the upcoming KR tribunal in a structured interview format. Access to social support during the KR regime, current socioeconomic status, benefit-finding-related coping, and trauma disclosure were shown to be unique determinants of desire for revenge. Desire for revenge, in turn, was predictive of more favorable attitudes toward the KR tribunal. The contribution of these findings to the existing literature on desire for revenge in the context of mass-level traumatic victimization and its implications for justice tribunals are discussed.