Why Prosecute? Critics of Punishment for Mass Atrocity

Punishment, Democracy and Transitional Justice in Argentina (1983-2015)

“…Southern criminology should not only challenge the limits of the claims of the grand narratives of the global North but also provide elements to broaden the scope of understanding of their specific problems. Bolivia (1982), Honduras (1982) Argentina (1983), El Salvador (1984, Uruguay (1984);Brazil (1985), Guatemala (1986), Haiti (1991, Paraguay (1989), Chile (1990), Panama (1990), Peru (1980, 2000. 4 The CONADEP, in nine months of operation, systematically documented at least 8,961 disappearances.…”

“…While supporters of the dictatorship identified the use of force as a 'war against subversion', 'communism' or 'terrorism', some of its critics considered it a 'dirty war' (a very controversial concept even today), with tens of thousands of victims, among which were union leaders, workers, priests, human rights lawyers, scientists, doctors and leaders of political parties, their friends, acquaintances and relatives, and others who were deemed suspicious. Human rights groups claim even to this today, as an emblem or symbol, the number of '30,000 disappeared' by 'state terror' in the context of a 'genocide' (Crenzel 2008a;Feierstein 2015;Osiel 1986Osiel , 2000. 4 In general, in Argentina and in those Latin American countries which had experienced transitional justice, policies, debates and control practices with respect to common or ordinary crimes coexist with those related to truth, memory and justice surrounding serious human rights violations:…”

“…Argentina is emblematic in relation to the experience of transitional justice in Latin America and the world, and the developments and debates arising from it (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (Centre for Legal and Social Studies, or CELS) 2013: 128;Osiel 2000;Sikkink 1996Sikkink , 2011Teitel 2003). Due to its early development, its impact and the scope of its juridical debates, human rights trials, convictions and sentences, it has had a leading role in the global trend known as 'the justice cascade' (Sikkink 1996(Sikkink , 2011Crenzel 2015: 81 South Africa post-apartheid did in the 1990s) and also to establish high-level human rights prosecutions concerning the disappeared ('desaparecidos').…”

Triangle of Betrayal: Collaborators and Transitional Justice in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

“…Legal and moral duty to punish, creating a sense of justice for the victims, deterrence, the need to protect the society from the criminals and the desire to individualize guilt were among the main justifications. Yet trials, it was realized, can also be a flawed solution: they necessitate selectivity, they often turn into political trials that violate the rights of the accused, they are a costly and messy venture, they have the potential to destabilize a transition (as the leaders of the former regime would not surrender if they know they would be put on trial), and the post-conflict judicial system often simply cannot meet the many challenges involved in successful prosecutions (Bass 2000;Osiel 2000).…”

“…The multiple problems in holding mass human rights trials have been documented elsewhere, so have the potential destabilizing effects (Osiel 2000). Blanket amnesty may not be a proper solution, yet nor are mass trials.…”