New USC Study Center To Examine Genocide -- And How To Stop It

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new USC center devoted to genocide will study how and why mass killings occur, their impact — and how to stop them.

The University of Southern California and director Steven Spielberg on Friday announced creation of the Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

It's an expansion of the USC Shoah Foundation, which was founded by Spielberg 20 years ago after the release of his Holocaust film, "Schindler's List."

The foundation has collected more than 50,000 testimonies from witnesses to the Holocaust and Rape of Nanking in World War II and the 1994 Rwanda massacres.

Spielberg, who's a Shoah Foundation trustee, says the research will provide a "a beacon of hope in breaking the cycle that leads to mass violence."

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)