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Counting Casualties: A Framework for Respectful, Useful Records
journal contribution
posted on 2007-02-01, 00:00 authored by Baruch FischhoffBaruch Fischhoff, Scott Atran, Noam FischhoffCounting casualties in conflict zones faces both practical and ethical concerns.
Drawing on procedures from risk analysis, we propose a general approach. It represents each
death by standard features, having either essential value, for capturing the social and cultural
meaning of individual casualties, or instrumental value, for relating patterns of casualties to
possible causes and effects.We illustrate the approach with the choices involved in attempts
to record casualties in Iraq and the Israel-Palestine conflict, and with natural disasters,
as exemplified by Hurricane Katrina. We advocate institutionalizing the approach, so that
recording casualties increases understanding, rather than suspicion.