The Genocide In Rwanda

The science behind the brains of criminals shows that the cells and amygdalae of their brains are physically different than those of a regular person; making them less likely to empathize and more likely to commit murder. The genocide in Rwanda, with Hutus killing Tutsis, began in 1994 and was one of the most devastating events in our world's history, with people being murdered at 3 times the rate as the Holocaust (Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide Compared). But before the tragedy in Rwanda came apartheid. Apartheid started when the National Party took power in South Africa, and racial segregation began. It was a different kind of devastation, and greater than 3.5 million black South Africans were removed from their homes, and forced into a life

If the community can force themselves to forgive and try to have hope, it could have a big emotional impact on the perpetrator, and help them to recover as well as the victim. If people see the them as irredeemable, they see themselves this way and will not have any motivation or reason to become a good person. About 30% of genocide survivors are afraid of revenge attacks, but these numbers can go down if people try to forgive and speak with the perpetrators (Gacaca Courts and Restorative Justice in Rwanda). Doing this chemically changes their brain and could possibly save lives in the future. Everyone needs to realize that even the evilest of people can change, and the practices of restorative justice have “helped the situation because people are slowly approaching each other when they didn't before." (Justice Compromised). The murderers could be unaware of how differently their brain functions, so if someone believes in them that they could do good and redeem themselves, they can experience empathy and recover. It is human nature to associate someone's evil actions with who they are as a person, but these perpetrators physically cannot help how their brain works. 70% of inmates released will end up re-offending and returning to the prison system, and we can prevent this from happening by using restorative justice and helping criminals to experience empathy (Daniel Reisel). And although their malicious actions, everyone has the possibility of change, and people need to forgive for the sake of “[the] country. It is painful and [we] can't say they are all 100% sincere...We're happy when we see someone come and confess they killed someone. And we forgive them."(Rwanda Genocide 20 Years on). Restorative justice gives criminals a second chance to change how their brain functions and