Genocide Films, Public Criminology, Collective Memory

One cannot understand or remember the genocides of the past in any direct manner. Their inac-cessibility impedes us from working toward complex understandings of these events and adequate ways of responding to them. In this paper, we bring together various strands of criminological thought by examining genocide films as a form of public criminology that is engaged in the work of memory and commemoration. We identify a specific set of genocide films that, we argue, not only constitute a key (if hitherto unrecognized) branch of visual and public criminology, but also create and transmit collective memories of the ‘crime of crimes’, provoking public understandings of atroc-ity and meaningful social and political responses. These films direct us toward representational strategies and interdisciplinary perspectives that advance our theoretical and empirical under-standing of genocide. Attention to such efforts not only underscores the work of images in shaping criminological discourse, but also makes for a better—because more deeply informed—criminology of genocide.