Preventing Perpetrators

The policy brief contends that international efforts to combat sexual violence in war have focused excessively on victim protection and criminal prosecution, leaving the motivations of perpetrators largely unexamined. To move toward effective prevention, the author proposes three focused approaches: analyzing individual personality traits during military recruitment, holding military leadership accountable to dismantle the perception that sexual violence is a permissible wartime activity, and challenging militarized masculinities that may justify such crimes. The document emphasizes that understanding the intersection of personal traits and the coercive environment of war is essential for identifying preventive remedies.

• Current international frameworks and research on wartime sexual violence are predominantly victim-centered, meaning the intentions and motivations of perpetrators are typically assumed rather than empirically researched.
• Existing scholarly literature is insufficient for preventing wartime sexual violence because peacetime research on sexual offenders does not account for the coercive environment of armed conflict, and research on genocide does not explain why sexual violence is specifically preferred in certain contexts.
• Prevention can be improved by refining military recruitment to identify individuals with specific personality traits or histories that make them more prone to committing sexual violence in war, such as psychopathologies, histories of trauma, or sadistic traits.
• Sexual violence in war may be viewed by perpetrators as a permissible action if it is not condemned or punished by military leadership, necessitating that leaders be held accountable in national and international courts.
• Addressing 'militarized masculinities' is necessary to change how perpetrators perceive their actions, moving away from viewing sexual violence as a sign of a 'successful soldier' toward viewing it as a criminal act.

APA

Skjelsbæk, I. (2013). Preventing Perpetrators. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2c2187bf-bc56-4145-8f41-3c2c52e49d46/Skjelsbaek-Preventing-Perpetrators-PRIO-Policy-Brief-03-2013.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Skjelsbæk, Inger. Preventing Perpetrators. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2013. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2c2187bf-bc56-4145-8f41-3c2c52e49d46/Skjelsbaek-Preventing-Perpetrators-PRIO-Policy-Brief-03-2013.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Skjelsbæk |first1=Inger |title=Preventing Perpetrators |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2013 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2c2187bf-bc56-4145-8f41-3c2c52e49d46/Skjelsbaek-Preventing-Perpetrators-PRIO-Policy-Brief-03-2013.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{skjelsbk2013preventing, author = {Skjelsbæk, Inger}, title = {{Preventing Perpetrators}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2013}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2c2187bf-bc56-4145-8f41-3c2c52e49d46/Skjelsbaek-Preventing-Perpetrators-PRIO-Policy-Brief-03-2013.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }