Operating from a nominally free state, Crenshaw found legal cover in a government lease that permitted slave labor at the salt works he ran — and then went further, systematically kidnapping free Black people and selling them into slavery in the South. The operation spanned decades and claimed documented victims across multiple states, with families separated and individuals condemned to bondage despite having broken no law. He was indicted twice and convicted never, a outcome that reflects both the limits of legal protection for Black citizens in antebellum America and the economic incentives that shielded men like him from accountability.

As both Interior Minister and Justice Minister of the wartime Croatian puppet state, Artuković occupied a position that gave legislative and administrative reach over the persecution of entire populations. He formalized that persecution through racial laws targeting Serbs, Jews, and Roma, and bore direct responsibility for the concentration camp system that followed. The scale of civilian suffering connected to his tenure placed him among the more consequential architects of Ustaše policy during the occupation years.