2009
Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni
Causes of the crime of genocide.
Zaffaroni received the prize for his analysis of how leaders can use harm to victims as justification for extreme punishments, including genocide and other crimes against humanity. His work has focused on crimes committed by the Argentinean junta against its own people in the latter 20th Century, as well as on the Holocaust and slavery in prior centuries.Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni
Born 1940 in Argentina. Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni was member of the Supreme Court of Argentina and professor emeritus at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) at the time of the award.
Showed that the criminology of ‘neutralisation techniques’ is a key factor in constructing a social movement for genocide.Showed that the criminology of ‘neutralisation techniques’ is a key factor in constructing a social movement for genocide.
When the government is the perpetrator
Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni was awarded the 2009 Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his research on the causes and prevention of genocide and the role played by governments in systematic violence against innocent scapegoats.
His groundbreaking theories and models clarify the causes and motives of genocide and provide warnings to other societies developing extreme politics. Zaffaroni’s work demonstrated how criminological theories on juvenile delinquents can be applied to governments that commit crimes against their own people.
Analyses of genocide and violence
Zaffaroni laid the groundwork for defining genocide based on criminological theory. He demonstrated how, among other strategies of criminal states, the concept of ‘neutralisation techniques’ could be used for promoting genocide. Neutralisation techniques are understood in criminology to be psychological strategies used by criminal actors to justify or excuse criminal behaviour. These techniques were first observed during ethnographic research among juvenile delinquents in the US. By textual analyses of political messages in Argentina and elsewhere, Zaffaroni showed how well they fit the rhetorical patterns of governments that define certain populations as ‘enemies’ designated as morally justifiable targets for genocide or other violations of the rule of law.
Explanations of genocide
Zaffaroni’s analysis of the root causes of genocide emphasised the importance of competition about scarce resources such as water and arable land. These findings were confirmed by later research in Africa and elsewhere. His critique of criminal law as an inadequate means of preventing genocide raised profound questions about the role of the international legal model in the aftermath of genocide.
Zaffaroni’s research also points to the importance of preventive measures taken by new leadership immediately after a current conflict has ended. By rebuilding families and communities, new leadership can develop reconciliatory models to break the vicious cycle of blood feuds. Otherwise, as he showed, mutual revenge can continue for centuries.