Prevention research focuses on perpetrators of torture and organised violence (TOV) and sites and networks of perpetration. The research is organised thematically round two axes. Along the first axis, perpetrative institutions and networks (prisons, police, gangs, youth networks etc) are analysed and along the second axis descriptions and analyses are made of interventions aimed at preventing TOV (e.g. human rights training, justice sector reform, rights-based development interventions). Studies feature the juxtaposition of empirical analyses of the practices of state officials and non-state actors with the interventions they are subject to in the name of development.

Over the last decade, there has been a justifiable increased focus on the prevention of TOV in development and health-related international relief work and in the realm of the promotion of good governance and human security. This work is typically based on the assumption that TOV is a deviation from normal situations marked by peace. However, in many developing countries, transitional societies and even in democratic states TOV are everyday, chronic occurences framing human lives. The dynamics of TOV and their implications for people and communities as well as on political and social structures is often very complex and demands to be examined locally and globally.

Since 9/11 and until early 2009 the rhetorics of the American administration in particular have functioned in particular ways to legitimate and justify what may be ‘new’ forms of state violence. The ‘war on’ discourses have played an important role in these developments and attention to these marks an expansion and new direction for the research work on prevention to include the broader conditions under which TOV proliferates. We also seek to work more comparatively and more historically without compromising local context.

Research on perpetration seeks to unpack the complex dynamics and relations which form the basis for TOV taking as its point of departure the violent practices of particular actors and the sites, networks and logics which frame these practices. Researchers are involved not only in conducting studies but also adopt consultancy roles vis à vis RCT’s international partners and internally within RCT. Where partners are working directly with the sites or populations of which we have expertise we seek to engage with them to facilitate best use of available knowledge. The development of methods and capacity building is central to this work both in support of the actual intervention work being carried out and to develop better methods for the study of torture and organised violence.

The prevention research is centred round the following three areas:

• Understanding state and non-state violent practices and actors
• Analysing interventions that are being implemented in developing countries and post-conflict societies.

Developing comparative methods for understanding the proliferation of TOV as well as methods for evaluating forms of intervention.