Innocence Lost: From Child to Perpetrator of International Crimes

Abstract

For quite some time, there have been debates on whether people who commit crimes do so because of dispositional reasons or situational factors. Society seems to create a distance between ordinary people and those who perpetrates international crimes. Currently at the International Criminal Court, Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier has an ongoing case against him in which he is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the recruitment of child soldiers. This paper relates Ongwen’s situation to another former soldier, Ishmael Beah, who has written his memoir with the intention of spreading awareness of use of child soldiers in armed conflict.