Abstract
International criminology focuses mostly on the lower level perpetrators even though it finds the leader is crucial for orchestrating the circumstances in which those people kill. While numerous theories from ordinary criminology have been usefully applied to these lower level perpetrators, the applicability of these theories to the leaders has remained underexplored. In order to fill this gap, the life-course theory of Sampson and Laub will be applied to Pol Pot whose brutal communist regime, cost the lives of approximately 1,7 million people. A difficult childhood, the influence of peers while he studied in Paris, and his marriage to a woman who shared his revolutionary mind-set, were all negative turning-points for Pol Pot.
Highlights
Mass violence is constructed as something extraordinary that violates cosmopolitan, and perhaps even universal, norms.[2]
The extraordinary nature of these crimes lies in the fact that these are very often a state-directed effort to harm or kill marginalised groups
Over the last twenty years, international criminology[9] developed into a thriving field in which traditional criminological theories have been usefully applied to situations of international crimes.[10]. These theories have been mostly used to explain the behavior of low level perpetrators who tortured, maimed or killed
Summary
Mass violence is constructed as something extraordinary that violates cosmopolitan, and perhaps even universal, norms.[2]. Using Sampson and Laub’s life course theory[16] might allow for more insight into the impact that different turning points in his life had on his intentions to commit the heinous crimes that would cost the lives of so many individuals This leads to the research question: to what extent can the life course theory of Sampson and Laub be used to analyse why political leaders decide to perpetrate or orchestrate international crimes?. Since the facts of his life are studied extensively by numerous historians, enough information was available to provide some insight into the effect that these turning points had on Pol Pot, but the lack of data remains a significant limitation of the present study Another important pitfall with a life course approach is that there is a risk of not attributing sufficient attention to the situation and historical or cultural context in which the crimes are perpetrated.
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