Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence — from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, Judith Lewis Herman. New York: Basic Books, 1992. 276 pp. $27.00. ISBN 0-465-08765–5.Shattered Assumptions: Toward A New Psychology of Trauma, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman. New York: The Free Press, 1992, 256 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-02-916015–4.

Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence — from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Close relatives and friends are dead or missing. Homes lie in ruins. Property has been destroyed. With everybody experiencing trouble, severe privations and physical suffering, it is still something altogether different whether one retains a home and household goods or has been ruined by bombs; whether he sustained his suffering and losses in combat at the front, at home, or in a concentration camp; whether he was a hunted.., victim or one of those who, even though in fear, profited by the regime .... Men have come to the limits of humanity and returned home, unable to forget what really was .... The suffering differs in kind, and most people have sense only for their

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Violence and Social Repair: Rethinking the Contribution of Justice to Reconciliation

Advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have made a historic contribution to the cause of international human rights by publicizing the need to prevent mass atrocities such as war crimes, genocide, and widespread political killings and torture.1 However, a strategy that many such groups favor for achieving this goal—the prosecution of perpetrators of atrocities according to universal standards—risks causing more atrocities than it would prevent, because it pays insufacient attention to political realities.2 Recent international criminal tribunals have utterly failed to deter subsequent abuses in the former Yugoslavia and Central Africa. Because tribunals, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), have often been unable to gain the active cooperation of powerful actors in the United States and in countries where abuses occur, it is questionable whether this strategy will succeed in the long run unless it is implemented in a more pragmatic way. Trials and Errors

Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of International Justice

ContextThe 1994 genocide in Rwanda led to the loss of at least 10% of the country's
7.7 million inhabitants, the destruction of much of the country's infrastructure,
and the displacement of nearly 4 million people. In seeking to rebuild societies
such as Rwanda, it is important to understand how traumatic experience may
shape the ability of individuals and groups to respond to judicial and other
reconciliation initiatives.ObjectivesTo assess the level of trauma exposure and the prevalence of posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their predictors among Rwandans and to
determine how trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms are associated with Rwandans'
attitudes toward justice and reconciliation.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsMultistage, stratified cluster random survey of 2091 eligible adults
in selected households in 4 communes in Rwanda in February 2002.Main Outcome MeasuresRates of exposure to trauma and symptom criteria for PTSD using the
PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version; attitudes toward judicial responses
(Rwandan national and gacaca local trials and International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda [ICTR]) and reconciliation (belief in community, nonviolence, social
justice, and interdependence with other ethnic groups).ResultsOf 2074 respondents with data on exposure to trauma, 1563 (75.4%) were
forced to flee their homes, 1526 (73.0%) had a close member of their family
killed, and 1472 (70.9%) had property destroyed or lost. Among the 2091 total
participants, 518 (24.8%) met symptom criteria for PTSD. The adjusted odds
ratio (OR) of meeting PTSD symptom criteria for each additional traumatic
event was 1.43 (95% CI, 1.33-1.55). More respondents supported the local judicial
responses (90.8% supported gacaca trials and 67.8% the Rwanda national trials)
than the ICTR (42.1% in support). Respondents who met PTSD symptom criteria
were less likely to have positive attitudes toward the Rwandan national trials
(OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98), belief in community (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.60-0.97),
and interdependence with other ethnic groups (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.56-0.90).
Respondents with exposure to multiple trauma events were more likely to have
positive attitudes toward the ICTR (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.04-1.17) and less
likely to support the Rwandan national trials (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.84-0.96),
the local gacaca trials (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.72-0.89), and 3 factors of openness
to reconciliation: belief in nonviolence (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87-0.97), belief
in community (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87-0.98), and interdependence with other
ethnic groups (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81-0.92). Other variables that were associated
with attitudes toward judicial processes and openness to reconciliation were
educational level, ethnicity, perception of change in poverty level and access
to security compared with 1994, and ethnic distance.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that traumatic exposure, PTSD symptoms, and
other factors are associated with attitudes toward justice and reconciliation.
Societal interventions following mass violence should consider the effects
of trauma if reconciliation is to be realized.

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Trauma and PTSD Symptoms in Rwanda Implications for Attitudes Toward Justice and Reconciliation

Legal process is invoked by supporters of transitional justice as necessary if not a precondition for societies affected by mass violence to transition into a new period of peace and stability. In this paper, we question the presumption that trials and/or truth commissions should be an early response to initiating a transitional justice process. We conducted a multi-factorial, qualitative analysis of seven case studies in countries impacted by mass violence and repression—Argentina, Cambodia, Guatemala, Timor-Leste, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. What emerges is a fuller appreciation of the dynamic system in which transitional justice interventions occur. Each system component may influence the outcome of these interventions. We offer principles that can guide institutional development, scholarship, and policy prescriptions in the area of transitional justice.

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Context, Timing and the Dynamics of Transitional Justice: A Historical Perspective

Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States

Hurricane Katrina, which landed just east of New Orleans, Louisiana on the morning of August 29, 2005, displaced hundreds of thousands of citizens, caused over 1,800 fatalities, and left much of the city in ruins. In its aftermath, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor lifted certain labor and wage restrictions for a period of time in an attempt to accommodate survivors who had lost security documents as well as expedite the rebuilding process. As clean up efforts got underway, reports of abuse - coupled with the easing of labor regulations, virtually no monitoring of construction sites, and the city’s lack of adequate housing and healthcare - suggested that unscrupulous contractors could easily be exploiting their workers.The International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley collaborated with the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer at Tulane University to conduct a study of the situation of construction workers in New Orleans. The study took place in March 2006 and examined both documented and undocumented workers using three research methods: key informant interviews, targeted sampling, and random sampling. Researchers interviewed 25 key informants including legal advocates, social service providers, community activists, representatives of minority and immigrant groups, and representatives of federal, state, and local government agencies in Louisiana and Mississippi, among others. Researchers also used targeted sampling to interview 148 Latino workers in different sites in New Orleans and Kenner, with the goal to determine the needs of Latino workers as they represent the largest group of undocumented workers. In addition, a random sampling of 212 workers of all origins working in Orleans parish was conducted to provide quantitative information on workers’ experiences.

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Laurel E. Fletcher

Papers

Violence and Social Repair: Rethinking the Contribution of Justice to Reconciliation

Context, Timing and the Dynamics of Transitional Justice: A Historical Perspective

Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States

Rebuilding after Katrina: A Population-Based Study of Labor and Human Rights in New Orleans

My Neighbor, My Enemy: A world unto itself? The application of international justice in the former Yugoslavia