Roads diverged: An examination of violent and nonviolent pathways in the aftermath of the Bosnian war*

• Author: Stephanie M. DiPietro
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12196
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• Date: 01 February 2019

Received: 19 June 2017 Revised: 14 August 2018 Accepted: 17 August 2018

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9125.12196

ARTICLE

Roads diverged: An examination of violent

and nonviolent pathways in the aftermath of

the Bosnian war*

Stephanie M. DiPietro

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri—St. Louis

Correspondence

StephanieM. DiPietro, 324 Lucas Hall,

Universityof Missouri—St. Louis, St. Louis,

MO63121.

Email:dipietros@umsl.edu

∗Iwish to thank Jody Miller, Richard Wright,

ReanneFrank, Timothy Dickinson, and the

anonymousreviewers for their invaluable

insightsand comment ary,as well as the Racial

DemocracyCr ime and Justice Networkfor its

support.

Abstract

Despite renewed interest among criminologists in war

and genocide, still understudied are the implications of

mass violence for human development and behavior over

the life course. By drawing on detailed life history data

gathered from 55 male Bosnian refugees and nationals, in

this work, I examine the shared beginnings of men who

experienced the Bosnian war and genocide (1992–1995)

in their youth, as well as examine their divergent pathways

over time and across two distinct postwar contexts. My

findings reveal that violent pathways are shaped by the

confluence of social–psychological mechanisms (e.g., the

normalization of violence) and exogenous risk factors (e.g.,

family disruption and loss of male role models). Compared

with nonviolent men, who emphasize themes of catharsis

and resilience, and the emulation of prosocial models of

masculinity, violent men's narratives are distinguished by

themes of persecution and exile, the emulation of violent

role models, and contextual barriers to attaining valued

masculine identities. Beyond the experience of war, these

findings have implications for understanding how early

experiences of chronic violence and community disruption

shape turning points and cultural frames over the life

course, and they indicate that studies of violent pathways

should grant greater primacy to the social–historical

74 © 2018 American Society of Criminology wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crim Criminology. 2019;57:74–104.

DIPIETRO 75

context and the meaning individuals ascribe to their

experiences.

KEYWORDS

masculinity, qualitative methods, violence, war and genocide

1INTRODUCTION

The twentieth century has been described as “unnamable’ for its endless chain of destructive moments”

(Ruggerio, 2015: 28). From the Armenian genocide (1915–1923) and the Holocaust (1933–1945) to

more recent civil wars and genocides in Rwanda (1994) and Bosnia (1992–1995), the global com-

munity has witnessed extraordinary levels of mass violence. The burden of these atrocities and those

that preceded them extends beyond the observable, quantifiable harms—death and injury, physical

destruction of cities and villages, and the forced exodus of individuals from their homes—to count-

less unintended consequences that reverberate for decades after war's end. For children, in particular,

coming of age in contexts of mass violence leaves a profound imprint on the trajectories of their lives.

Traditional age-graded markers of socialization are disrupted; family systems are fragmented, whether

by the death of loved ones or prolonged separation from them; the sudden exodusof friends and neigh-

bors disrupts community organization; and threats to personal safety and freedom force many into

exile, creating new obstacles and challenges forrefugee youth and their families. War is, as French and

Nikolic-Novakovic(2011: 99) noted, “the most significant human stressor” and “children are the most

vulnerable to its effects.”

Although recent years have witnessed a renewed interest among criminologists in the subjects

of war and genocide,1these topics continue to occupy a marginal place in the discipline (Hagan,

2015; Jamieson, 2014; Ruggiero, 2015; Walklate & McGarry, 2015). Still understudied are the

implications of mass violence for human development and behavior,particularly violence, over the life

course among individuals exposed during their most formative years: childhood. The criminogenic

consequences of exposure to a range of violent contexts (e.g., family, school, and community) figure

prominently in numerous criminological theories, from strain and social learning, to subcultural

theories. Not only has chronic exposure to violence, as well as more direct forms of trauma and

victimization (e.g., violent death of loved ones, physical abuse), been found to correlate with violence

(Fagan, Piper, & Cheng, 1987; Ng-Mak, Stueve, Salzinger, & Feldman, 2002; Rivera & Widom,

1990; Spano, Rivera, & Bolland, 2010), the detrimental effects have been found to endure (Kirk &

Hardy, 2014; Widom, Fisher, Nagin,& Piquero, 2017; Wilkinson & Carr, 2008), suggesting that early

experiences of violence potentially alter the “content and character of later life” (Macmillan, 2001).

It is surprising, then, that although existing theory and research findings link exposure to violent

contexts with violent behavior, the implications of coming of age in contexts of war and genocide

have been given limited criminological attention.

1See, e.g., the work of Hagan, Rymond-Richmond, and colleagues (Hagan & Rymond-Richmond, 2008; Hagan, Rymond-

Richmond, & Parker,2005), which has provided much of the foundation for building a theory of genocide within a criminological

framework (see also Brehm, Uggen, & Gasanabo, 2016; Rafter, 2016; Savelsberg, 2015), as well as the work of others, which

has resulted in broadening significantly the study of war's implications for crime and victimization, focusing on themes such

as war profiteering (Ruggiero, 2008), sexual violence (Mullins, 2009), and the parallels between combat veteransand pr isoners

returning home (McGarry & Walklate, 2011; Walklate & McGarry, 2015).