Beyond the metaphor: Political violence, human rights and ‘new’ peacemaking criminology

Source: (2003) Theoretical Criminology. 7(3): 319-346.

Using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article explores the relationship between human rights and criminological discourses concerning paramilitary abuses. The article begins with a critical
introduction to peacemaking criminology. It then explores four overlapping styles of interventions designed to mitigate paramilitary violence. These include, attempts to hold paramilitaries accountable through humanitarian law; the use of human rights as a rhetorical base for claimsmaking; attempts to encourage the internalization of human rights discourses through a process of political osmosis; and interventions which have been guided primarily by criminological
concerns. The article concludes by suggesting a schema for a ‘new’ version of peacemaking criminology that intersects with and builds upon the human rights paradigm in transforming political or ethnic conflicts. Author’s abstract.