Judicial Decision-Making and Deliberations
This chapter assesses judicial decision-making and deliberations. The success of international criminal courts depends in no small part on the transparency of proceedings and reasoning of the judgements. Transparency is essential to building public confidence in the fair administration of justice. It also serves as an important safeguard against judicial arbitrariness and helps to ensure not only the fairness of the proceedings but the independence and impartiality of the Bench. This commitment to transparency in court proceedings is not absolute, however. It is limited by other factors, such as the importance of protecting witnesses and victims and the requirement that certain information be kept confidential. The chapter looks at the process of decision-making in the ICTY, ICTR, and the Mechanism. It draws attention to four specific issues: the uniqueness of the tribunals and the impact of their special status on decision-making; the diversity of decision-makers at the tribunals; the diverse backgrounds of the tribunals’ Judges and staff; and the process of decision-making.