How do people who have participated in extensive violence against the state and members of their community, understand and reflect on their experiences? What meanings do they attach to violence, and how do they go on to reformulate their lives and deal with the consequences of their actions in its aftermath? These are among the key questions that this thesis considers. Anchored in a little-known violent period that took place in southern Sri Lanka in the late 1980s, known locally simply as ‘the Terror’ (Bheeshanaya), this ethnography of political violence analyses the memories and narratives of those who have engaged in violence. It explores how violence is negotiated and lived with in the aftermath and its implications for the self and sociality. As such, this study is concerned with how people mediate and articulate discomforting memories of violence, in a post-terror context of silence and fear, where justice and reconciliation are lacking. Through the accounts of people who have participated in violence, this thesis provides rich insight into the consequences of violence, and further highlights the flawed nature of one-dimensional ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ binaries generally assumed in studies of violence, emphasising instead the ambiguity that marks the experience of violence. This thesis is based on 14 months of fieldwork carried out primarily with former insurgents in southern Sri Lanka. For balance and to maximise representation in what remains deeply contested terrain, their accounts are set against the stories of people who did not directly engage in violence, but whose lives were nevertheless touched by the Terror. This thesis argues that for those who have participated in violence, the mediation of its memory is an on-going ethical exercise. It finds that former insurgents remember, give meaning to, and live with, their violent pasts in ethical terms. Remembering violence is morally tendentious and carries significant implications for the self and sociality in the present. Recreating life after terror involves finding an ethical framework to deal with violence, and entails ongoing efforts to allocate moral responsibility for it. This thesis contends that as much as the violent past is kept alive in the present as an ethical issue, moral accountability for it remains un-reconciled and in a constant state of flux. It shows overall the narratives of former insurgents to be contradictory and convoluted, highlighting the ambivalent nature of memory and lived experience of violence. Moreover, it argues that for those who have participated in violence, life in the aftermath is about finding ways of living with one’s violent past, rather that ‘healing’ or ‘moving on’ from it.

orture is a serious violation of human rights and it is strictly prohibited by numerous human rights instruments. The prohibition of torture enshrines one of the most fundamental values of a democratic society. Its prohibition in a national constitution commits the country, and specifically its law enforcement officers, to performing their duties with due regard to the essential dignity of every human being. The irony is that the law enforcement officials and the security agents who are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the society sometimes breach the law which they have sworn to uphold. Most of the perpetrators of acts of torture are usually those in positions of state power. In addition, other persons who wield other forms of authority or influence also perpetrate torture. It is contended that both civil and criminal responsibilities of the perpetrators should be explored by bringing them to justice in order to serve as deterrence to others. Despite being stringently outlawed, torture continues to be practised in many countries in the world. The underlying assumption is that, although the prohibition of torture has become part of customary international law, the practice of torture remains widespread. Torturers and those who order or encourage torturers to ply their trade or acquiesce in their doing so, enjoy virtual impunity from prosecution within their own jurisdictions. In many cases, the majority of the torturers go unpunished because they are, most often than not, agents or officials of the state. Nowadays, there are various international human rights instruments prohibiting torture. Violations of the provisions of these instruments by states or individuals will attract necessary and appropriate sanction. The erring state or individual will be held accountable and if found liable, sanctions as contained in the instruments banning torture will be invoked accordingly. It must be stressed that condemnation of torture is universal and its prohibition forms not only part of customary international law, but has joined that narrow category of crimes so egregious as to demand universal criminal jurisdiction. There is no save haven for perpetrators because the various mechanisms and adjudicating bodies of state parties and the United Nations have competent jurisdictions to right the wrong. Furthermore, it must be stressed that there can be no justification for torture because CAT and other important international human rights instruments assume increasing importance tools which have realistic prospects for eliminating torture.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / In this thesis, the researcher explored the life stories of male perpetrators of child sexual offences. It is argued that this is an area that needs to be addressed because sexual abuse of children has become a global problem, and South Africa is no exception. As in other parts of the world, in South Africa, sexual abuse of children is under reported.It is estimated that only fifteen percent of rapes are reported, and in addition to this only about one in twenty rapes is reported to the police. Sexual abuse has become a great concern to social workers and health practitioners because of the harmful consequences for victims.This study aimed to undertake an exploratory study on sex offenders’ subjective reflections (constructions) of their involvement in the sexual molestation of children. Narratology or narrative analysis enabled the researcher to find out how the offenders portray their sexual engagement with children.The researcher followed the qualitative research approach, utilizing the autobiographical method of inquiry. Data collection was by means of narratives /story-telling. The researcher made use of purposive sampling in the selection of seven participants for the individual interviews and thirty for the focus group interviews. The participants were perpetrators of sexual abuse against children, participating in a community-based program in the Western Cape. Personal interviews were conducted because of the sensitive nature of the information sought.Data was analysed according to an adapted five-step process as proposed by Terreblanche and Durrheim (2006). Data was verified by using the peer review; rich,thick descriptions; external audits; and clarifying research bias, as suggested by Creswell (1998: 197-204).The findings revealed that the offenders’ stories unfolded chronologically, starting from their early childhood. They shared their family life experiences and happenings during their growth to adulthood. The various factors, which exposed and influenced them on the path to becoming adult child sexual offenders were explored.

Under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979 in Cambodia, 1.7 million people died from starvation, overwork, torture, and murder. While five senior leaders are on trial for these crimes at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, hundreds of lower level perpetrators live amongst their victims today. This thesis examines how rural Cambodians (including victims, perpetrators, and bystanders) are coexisting after the trauma of the Khmer Rouge years, and the decades of civil war before and after. In this qualitative research study, 134 semi-structured interviews were conducted with rural villagers, government officials, and peacebuilding practitioners. Cambodian culture is characterized by conflict avoidance, and reliance on family networks, hierarchy, and patronage. Buddhism is a strong cultural influence as well. These characteristics, as well as the lack of trust resulting from the Khmer Rouge years, provided important context for this analysis of Cambodian social recovery. Research on the processes of coexistence and reconciliation inform this study (Bloomfield 2006; Huyse 2003; Kriesberg 2001; Lederach 1997; Rigby 2001). However, few studies have been done that examine community reconciliation in Cambodia (Etcheson 2005b). This thesis examines the processes of reconciliation, including interfering and facilitating factors. Processes such as building relationships and trust, and developing empathy and compassion are explored. Cambodians’ views of apologies, revenge, forgiveness, and other key concepts are reviewed. Models of coexistence, acceptance, perpetrator coping strategies, and a victim decision-making tree are presented to assist in the analysis of the data. These models provide a theoretical framework for the understanding of the situation of coexistence and reconciliation in Cambodia. The thesis suggests that Cambodians are currently living in various stages of coexistence (surface, shallow, and moderate) and have not yet approached a condition of deep reconciliation. Practical applications of the findings are suggested.

The purpose of this study was to get a better understanding on how Swedish media describes intimate partner violence from a social constructionist perspective. This was done by analysing the way this violence is projected in three Swedish newspapers namely Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter & Expressen. Our study focused on heterosexual relationships and investigated how some sample of Swedish newspapers described the image of “men and women as perpetrators; gender construction”, “the presentation of the violence” and “the way society treats intimate partner violence victims (male/female)”. The theoretical approach in this analysis was based on social constructionism with a special focus on gender. In order to address the research objectives, a content analysis was performed and some comment and analysis on themes were given. The research findings revealed that both men and women could be perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence with a main focus on woman as victims from media.

The study proposed to distinguish differences in perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence (i.e., Common Couple Violence and Patriarchal Terrorism) due to the mediating effect of their presentations of narcissism (covert and overt). Distinguishing perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence by their narcissistic presentations should assist clinicians in batterer treatment programs to create specific lessons/interventions for perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence based on their narcissistic quality. The study of a cross-section of men in a Batterer Intervention Program included measures on self-perception, views of partner, and history of violent, aggressive, controlling, and psychologically abusive interactions with their partner. Structural Equation Modeling with Analysis of Moment Structures was used to determine the structure and function of narcissism and interpersonal violence. Intimate Partner Violence was distinguishable as Common Couple Violence or Patriarchal Terrorism, but the results were not sufficiently conclusive to warrant an absolute classification system. Overt Narcissism was somewhat useful in distinguishing Patriarchal Terrorism from Common Couple Violence by mediating the effects of violent behaviors, controlling behaviors, and psychological abuse when mediated by type of narcissism. That information is useful for clinicians interested in creating targeted interventions to participants in Batterer Intervention Programs to reduce Intimate Partner Violence and violent recidivism. Specifically, Common Couple Violence was described by the number of times the participant physically injured the partner over the past year, the total number of conflict tactics used, and whether their partner needed medical attention following physical injury. Patriarchal Terrorism was described by psychological abuse and controlling behaviors. Overt Narcissism increased Patriarchal Terrorism, whereas, Covert Narcissism did not assist in distinguishing Common Couple Violence from Patriarchal Terrorism. The mediating effect that Covert Narcissism had on violent behaviors, controlling behaviors, and psychological abuse was weak. Overt Narcissism is a more useful construct when identifying potential Patriarchal Terrorists, while Covert Narcissism was not found to provide additional detail to either Patriarchal Terrorism or Common Couple Violence. Knowing the differing and similar impacts of those constructs can potentially grant greater clinical effectiveness with perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

Sexual violence is one of the few public health problems that can also be classified as a crime. Thus, it follows that approaches to prevention should be based in both public health principles as well as effective methods of crime reduction. Public health prevention typically focuses on interventions at levels of the Social-Ecological Model (SEM). The SEM is comprised of concentric circles that represent the individual, relational, community, and policy/environmental levels. Public health prevention goals include developing, implementing, and testing interventions at all levels of this model. For example, public health interventions for sexual violence prevention include approaches such as women’s self-defense training (individual-level) and bystander intervention training (relational). Although some interventions show statistically significant effects in changing knowledge and attitudes about sexual violence, very few show changes in preventing perpetration behavior. Criminologists have developed a crime prevention model, Situational Crime Prevention (SCP), which consists of five broad strategies that are further divided into twenty-five specific tactics. The goals of situational prevention are to deter crime by increasing the effort to perpetrate, increasing risks, reducing rewards, reducing provocations, and removing excuses. SCP has been utilized successfully, but the focus has primarily been prevention of property crimes. Very little attention has been paid to the potential utility of SCP for interpersonal violence, particularly for sexual violence. This dissertation proposes a new conceptual model for comprehensive sexual violence perpetration prevention that synthesizes the situational crime prevention matrix and the social-ecological model.

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