ABSTRACT
In atrocity-producing circumstances everyone can become a perpetrator but not everyone can become just any type of perpetrator. Some will become leaders, other followers; some will enjoy the violence others will remain reluctant; some act out of ideology or self-interest, others out of fear, to give just a few examples. The environment is crucial, but disposition matters too, and so do the choices people make. Ideology, authorization and obedience, conformism and the seductiveness of power, all play a crucial role, but do so in different ways for different types of perpetrators. The biggest mistake we can make is to believe that we are good, no matter what. This belief is at the core of our potential to be evil. The typology presents an analytical framework which makes us better understand not only the different types of perpetrators but also how these types of perpetrators interact, shape a context which then determines their and other's behaviour and makes them become involved in horrendous crimes. Perpetrators are like cogs in a machine, some are bigger, others are smaller, most are terribly and terrifyingly normal, some, however, are not.
