Collective punishment - Definition and Overview

Collective punishment is a term describing the punishment of a group of people for the crime of few. It is contradictory to the modern concept of due process, where each individual receives separate treatment based on their individual circumstances — as they relate to the crime in question.

Joseph Stalin's mass deportations of several nations of the USSR to remote regions (including the Chechens, Crimean Tatars) or the Nazi atrocities at Lidice and Oradour-sur-Glane are examples of collective punishment.

In recent history, the term has been used to describe everything from the demolition of houses that allegedly sheltered terrorists in the Gaza strip, to confiscation of assets connected with drug use and trafficking in the United States.

See Also

• Article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention specifically forbids collective punishment

External Links

• US Department of Justice's page on asset Forfeiture (http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/afp/)