From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala
In our research on perpetrators, is it sufficient to know what people do, or is it equally critical to know what reasons and justifications they provide in their own words for their actions, in order to try to prevent it happening again? And if it is important to know what people understand about th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pluto Journals
2012-03-01
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| Series: | State Crime |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.2307/41917769 |
| _version_ | 1797833859289579520 |
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| author | Jennifer Schirmer |
| author_facet | Jennifer Schirmer |
| author_sort | Jennifer Schirmer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In our research on perpetrators, is it sufficient to know what people do, or is it equally critical to know what reasons and justifications they provide in their own words for their actions, in order to try to prevent it happening again? And if it is important to know what people understand about their actions in their own words, how do we go about getting perpetrators to speak candidly about this? Interestingly, when I began my research, a number of non-Guatemalan analysts told me not to "waste my time", that the officers would feed me "a lie to cover up their pathological actions". If we consider the logic behind such advice, it assumes that we already know who these officers are by what they do; that they are evil incarnate. But is it sufficient to look upon these officers as essentially evil? Does the epithet describe what happened? Does it explain the "why"? |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:29:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce61435640104a0faaec5d027e0abe60 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-6056 2046-6064 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:29:46Z |
| publishDate | 2012-03-01 |
| publisher | Pluto Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | State Crime |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce61435640104a0faaec5d027e0abe602023-05-03T16:16:44ZengPluto JournalsState Crime2046-60562046-60642012-03-0111274410.2307/41917769From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in GuatemalaJennifer Schirmer0London School of EconomicsIn our research on perpetrators, is it sufficient to know what people do, or is it equally critical to know what reasons and justifications they provide in their own words for their actions, in order to try to prevent it happening again? And if it is important to know what people understand about their actions in their own words, how do we go about getting perpetrators to speak candidly about this? Interestingly, when I began my research, a number of non-Guatemalan analysts told me not to "waste my time", that the officers would feed me "a lie to cover up their pathological actions". If we consider the logic behind such advice, it assumes that we already know who these officers are by what they do; that they are evil incarnate. But is it sufficient to look upon these officers as essentially evil? Does the epithet describe what happened? Does it explain the "why"?https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.2307/41917769 |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer Schirmer From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala State Crime |
| title | From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala |
| title_full | From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala |
| title_fullStr | From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala |
| title_full_unstemmed | From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala |
| title_short | From the Horse's Mouth: Research on Perpetrators in Guatemala |
| title_sort | from the horse s mouth research on perpetrators in guatemala |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.2307/41917769 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jenniferschirmer fromthehorsesmouthresearchonperpetratorsinguatemala |