ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches a discussion of socio-economic harm in times of violent conflicts by presenting examples of the type of socio-economic harm in question, and the danger of leaving them un-addressed. The chapter then examines socio-economic harm through the prism of transitional justice and criminology. Primarily a legally oriented field, transitional justice often utilizes the language of “rights violations” rather than notions of “crime” and “harm” as discussed in criminology. The chapter offers an explanation as to why this distinction matters, particularly in the often messy context of violent conflicts where legally established norms either no longer exist or they may serve as a barrier to addressing victims’ needs. This is followed by outlining the reasons as to why socio-economic harm has largely been neglected by transitional justice academics and practitioners, while highlighting some mechanisms of transitional justice which have addressed socio-economic harm. The chapter proceeds to present a discussion of critical criminology, and approaches to crime as well as human rights violations. It addresses the development of a non-legally oriented view towards crime and harm and the relevance of this for situations of violent conflict. A discussion of state crime and economic crime concludes this chapter.
