The Expressive Limits of International Criminal Justice: Victim Trauma and Local Culture in the Iron Cage of the Law

Scholarship within the field of international criminal justice has increasingly turned towards expressivist strands of thought, characterised by a concern for the didactic qualities of international criminal courts. Taking expressivism as its point of departure, this paper critically examines the expressive limits of international criminal justice. Specifically, the paper examines the extent to which international criminal courts have been expressively constrained both in their ability to alleviate the traumas of victims and in their receptivity to the local cultural values of conflict-affected communities. The paper argues that a critical reflection on the expressive limits of international criminal courts, paying particular attention to their retributive core and cultural assumptions, can help such institutions better navigate the complex terrain in which they operate, reducing aspirations concerning what they should be expected to achieve in practice and improving their legitimacy amongst local communities.

Download Full-text

The ‘Grotian Style’ in International Criminal Justice

Grotiana ◽

10.1163/18760759-42020005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 304-334

Author(s):

Frédéric Mégret

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

Separation Of Powers ◽

International System ◽

International Community ◽

International Criminal Justice ◽

The Law ◽

Ongoing Dialogue ◽

Law Making

Abstract This article envisages how one might conceptualize the ‘Grotian Style’ in international criminal justice as a practice of adaptation spearheaded by international judges rather than as actual changes occurring in the international system. It foregrounds the emblematic career of Antonio Cassese at the ICTY as epitomizing the trajectory of a scholar on the bench intent on seizing a historic opportunity to reframe the law. The contours, origins, and prospects but also limitations of the ‘Grotian style’ are then discussed. The problem with the Grotian style is not primarily that it runs roughshod over defense rights, but that it appropriates a law-making authority which, in the international system, is better understood as primarily vested in states. In the process, it risks exposing its hubris and shallowness, especially when deciding on normatively intractable issues. In a context where international criminal justice is increasingly being normalized, the time may have come to reconceptualize judges’ role along more global constitutional lines as rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the international community of states and an emerging separation of powers.

Download Full-text

Disclosure before the ICC: The Emergence of a New Form of Policies Implementation System in International Criminal Justice?

International Criminal Law Review ◽

10.1163/157181209x12584562670776 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 23-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michele Caianiello

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

International Criminal Justice ◽

Legal Traditions ◽

New Form ◽

The Law ◽

Law Of Evidence ◽

Trial Phase

AbstractThe use of theoretical models, the most famous of which is the distinction between accusatorial and inquisitorial, is decisive in testing the intrinsic consistency of a specific procedural system. The aim of this work is to analyse some aspects of the law of evidence provided for by ICC sources, specifically the disclosure provisions, and ascertain whether the blending of different legal traditions may be regarded as successful or subject to criticism. For this purpose, in his analysis the Author employs the widely known Damaška partition between coordinate vs. hierarchical officialdom, in the administration of the process. The conclusion reached in this work is that some amendments to the sources of the ICC concerning the law of evidence would be advisable, in order to rectify certain inconsistencies. Among them, the author proposes the adoption of an official Prosecutor's file in the pre-trial phase.

Download Full-text

Roots

Standing Up for Justice ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198863434.003.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 3-30

Author(s):

Theodor Meron

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Due Process ◽

International Criminal ◽

International Criminal Justice ◽

Criminal Courts ◽

Unique Role ◽

The World ◽

The Law

This chapter provides a brief biography of the author and his road to Judgeship. Being a Judge allowed him to put into practice his commitment to accountability, rule of law and due process. The chapter then sketches out the contours of international criminal justice. International criminal courts, in many ways, resemble criminal courts in national jurisdictions around the world. They weigh evidence, follow due process, ensure the parties are heard and apply and abide by the law and respect human rights. At the same time, international criminal courts—and the cases they hear—are extraordinary. Because of their unique role and the nature of the crimes charged, international criminal courts are also often seen as something more than criminal courts. Their judgements are sometimes expected to be definitive histories of the conflict.

Download Full-text

The admissibility of improperly obtained evidence: The universality of the problem and the diversity of approaches to solving it

Pravovedenie ◽

10.21638/spbu25.2019.307 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 460-480

Author(s):

Pavel P. Stepanov ◽

◽

Gleb E. Besedin ◽

◽

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Due Process ◽

International Criminal ◽

Crime Control ◽

Criminal Court ◽

International Criminal Justice ◽

Criminal Proceedings ◽

European Court ◽

The Law

The article focuses on the issue of acknowledging inadmissible evidence obtained in violation of the law. According to the authors, this issue can be encountered, in one way or another, in any procedural system (both at the national and international levels). In this regard, the authors substantiate the relevance and ambivalence of the issue for the Russian criminal proceedings. Also, the authors use the scientific works of scholars belonging to the Soviet, early post-Soviet and modern periods of the development of Russian criminal proceedings, as well as materials of judicial practice from various years in order to demonstrate the evolution of approaches to the solution of the topic. In order to demonstrate universality of the issue, the authors analyze, in a comparative legal sense, the approaches of leading foreign procedural systems. It is concluded that there is a tendency that foreign legal systems are searching for the recognition criteria of evidence obtained in violation of the law to achieve a balance between the two areas of criminal procedural policy: ‘due process of law’ and ‘crime control’. Usually, the violation of human rights committed in obtaining evidence per se does not entail the finding of such evidence as unacceptable. The authors focus on the same issue, but in the scope of international criminal justice which combines the approaches of both the investigative (inquisitorial) and the accusatory (adversary) criminal procedure traditions. It is indicated that the bodies of international criminal justice (in particular, the International Criminal Court), when forming their position on the issue under consideration, are guided in many respects by the law enforcement practices of international bodies for the protection of human rights (primarily, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights). The authors conclude that it is possible to use the criteria for the inadmissibility of evidence specified in the Rome Statute and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights for Russian criminal proceedings due to the transitional nature of the criteria.

Download Full-text

Extradition Law and Procedure in Pakistan: An Appraisal of the Extradition Act 1972

Journal of Law & Social Studies ◽

10.52279/jlss.03.01.1118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 11-18

Author(s):

Syed Wajdan Rafay Bukhari ◽

Dr Aamir Abbas ◽

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Special Reference ◽

Criminal Justice System ◽

Justice System ◽

International Criminal ◽

Fair Trial ◽

International Criminal Justice ◽

The Law

This article analyses the law and procedure of extradition in Pakistan with special reference to Extradition Act 1972. Extradition is a surrender of an accused or convicted person from one state to other state on its request. It is also considered as a system by which one state delivers an accused person to another state on her demand. Moreover, extradition is also used as a tool and considered to be one of the stages to secure international criminal justice system. Furthermore, the focus of the study is to discuss the interpretation of Extradition Act 1972 by the superior courts in their decisions. This study reveals that there are some lacunas in Extradition Act 1972 i.e., there is no provision which safeguards the fugitive offenders from cruel, torture and other inhumane treatment in the requesting state, it does not guarantee the fair trial of the offender in demanding state, additionally, this Act does not provide any right of appeal against the order of surrender. Resultantly, this paper finds that Extradition Act 1972 provide less safeguard to the fugitive offender and did not guarantee the fair trial in the requesting state.

Download Full-text