The Release, Transfer and/or Use of Imprisoned Criminals and/or Known Gangsters During the Commission of Acts Potentially Leading Up to Genocide: A Clear and Unmistakable Early Warning Signal of a Failed State - Some Preliminary Thoughts

Time and again throughout the 20th century -- and now the early 21 st century -perpetrators of genocide have made use of both imprisoned criminals and/or known gangsters to assist with the perpetration of genocide. More specifically, in all of the following cases, perpetrators released imprisoned criminals and/or enticed gangsters to take part in the genocidal process: the Ottoman Turk genocide of the Armenians (1915-1919); the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust (1933-1945); the genocide of communists and suspected communists in Indonesia in the mid-1960s; the mass murder and genocide perpetrated in the former Yugoslavia (1990s); the Hutu-genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda (1994); and the current genocide in Darfur (2003-present). Among the various criminal activities that such individuals engaged in during various periods of genocide are as follows: to terrorize innocent citizens; physically attack the victims' homes or business; help with rounding up the victims and/or deporting members of the targeted groups; over-seeing and brutalizing members of the victim group being held in detention centers, concentration camps, and/or death camps; and/or taking part in the actual killing process.