Domesticating International Criminal Law

Domesticating International Criminal Law
Title Domesticating International Criminal Law PDF eBook
Author Florian Jeßberger
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Pages 285
Release 2023-06-01
Genre Law
ISBN 1000886433

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This book provides an essential and critical overview of the most significant issues concerning the domestication of international criminal law, in particular with regard to the implementation of the ICC Statute. It discusses the most recent proposals for reform of the German Code of Crimes under International Law, the "Völkerstrafgesetzbuch", 20 years after its entering into force and introduces the project for an Italian code of international crimes drafted by the Committee of experts established in 2022 by the Ministry of Justice. Following the adoption of the ICC Statute, many States, including Germany with the "Völkerstrafgesetzbuch", introduced specific legislation to incorporate international criminal law into their domestic legal systems and a considerable number of them have been investigating and prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and even aggression ever since. Twenty-five years later, however, the process is not completed as other countries, like Italy, are still working on adopting provisions on international crimes. This book opens with a broad overview of the different approaches of the domestication of international criminal law, with a specific focus on the German and the Italian systems. After an assessment of the prerequisites for the domestic implementation of international criminal law, also from a constitutional law perspective, each chapter offers an in-depth analysis of a specific issue, such as: the definition of international crimes (genocide and crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression); the applicability of and exceptions to the general principles of domestic criminal law; the regulation of individual criminal responsibility; sanctions and sentencing; as well as procedural aspects related to immunities, jurisdiction and prosecutorial discretion. The strong academic perspective of many authors is complemented by an equally strong practitioner perspective of the others, provided by legal scholars in the highest positions in international and national judicial institutions, resulting in a well-informed and critical appraisal of the most recent developments overall in the international criminal justice system. Domesticating International Criminal Law will be of great interest to legal scholars and students, as well as practitioners with an interest in comparative and international law, international criminal law and international relations.

States of Justice

States of Justice
Title States of Justice PDF eBook
Author Oumar Ba
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 207
Release 2020-07-02
Genre Law
ISBN 1108806082

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This book theorizes the ways in which states that are presumed to be weaker in the international system use the International Criminal Court (ICC) to advance their security and political interests. Ultimately, it contends that African states have managed to instrumentally and strategically use the international justice system to their advantage, a theoretical framework that challenges the “justice cascade” argument. The empirical work of this study focuses on four major themes around the intersection of power, states' interests, and the global governance of atrocity crimes: firstly, the strategic use of self-referrals to the ICC; secondly, complementarity between national and the international justice system; thirdly, the limits of state cooperation with international courts; and finally the use of international courts in domestic political conflicts. This book is valuable to students, scholars, and researchers who are interested in international relations, international criminal justice, peace and conflict studies, human rights, and African politics.

Contested Justice

Contested Justice
Title Contested Justice PDF eBook
Author Christian De Vos
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 525
Release 2015-12-18
Genre Law
ISBN 1316483266

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The International Criminal Court emerged in the early twenty-first century as an ambitious and permanent institution with a mandate to address mass atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Although designed to exercise jurisdiction only in instances where states do not pursue these crimes themselves (and are unwilling or unable to do so), the Court's interventions, particularly in African states, have raised questions about the social value of its work and its political dimensions and effects. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who specialise on the ICC, this collection offers a diverse account of its interventions: from investigations to trials and from the Court's Hague-based centre to the networks of actors who sustain its activities. Exploring connections with transitional justice and international relations, and drawing upon critical insights from the interpretive social sciences, it offers a novel perspective on the ICC's work. This title is also available as Open Access.

International Crimes in National Regulations of Selected States

International Crimes in National Regulations of Selected States
Title International Crimes in National Regulations of Selected States PDF eBook
Author Patrycja Grzebyk
Publisher Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości
Pages 286
Release
Genre Law
ISBN 8367149254

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The analysis of national systems shows that states do not follow a single legislative model to govern criminal responsibility for international crimes at the national level, and often face doubts as to how far they are only expected to copy international constructions, and how far they should modify treaty or customary international law solutions to adapt them to their specific needs or legal culture. In the presented texts, the reader will find a range of commentaries on the definition of crimes, the rules of jurisdiction, the rules of responsibility, as well as difficulties in the framing of specific crimes within a judgement. The texts refer to the practice of national courts as well as international and internationalized courts. The authors of this publication hope that showing various national perspectives, political and – at times – cultural impacts on certain legal solutions will both facilitate understanding of the doubts as to the current form of international law norms and the system of international justice now in operation, and enable learning lessons for the future directions of amendments to national legislations, so that errors or difficulties once encountered in some countries could be turned into more robust legal constructions in others.

Criminalizing Atrocity

Criminalizing Atrocity
Title Criminalizing Atrocity PDF eBook
Author Mark S. Berlin
Publisher
Pages 267
Release 2020
Genre History
ISBN 0198850441

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The first book to systematically examine why countries adopt laws criminalizing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability

International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability
Title International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability PDF eBook
Author Labuda
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 369
Release 2023-05-23
Genre Law
ISBN 0198868847

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In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, however, there has been a renewed emphasis on domestic accountability for international crimes across the globe. In identifying a 'complementarity turn', a paradigm shift toward domestic accountability in the field of international criminal justice, this book investigates how the shadow of international criminal tribunals influences the treatment of serious crimes at the national level. Drawing on research and interviews in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone, this book develops a tripartite framework to analyse how states and tribunals work with, despite, or against one another in the fight against impunity. While international prosecutors and judges use the principle of complementarity to foster cooperation and decrease tension with government actors, Patryk I. Labuda argues that too much deference by ICTs toward states reduces the likelihood of accountability and may enable national elites to consolidate authoritarian power. By interrogating how international accountability stakeholders relate to their domestic counterparts, International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability advocates improvements to ICTs' institutional design and more dynamic interactions with states to strengthen the enforcement of international criminal law.

Criminalizing Atrocity

Criminalizing Atrocity
Title Criminalizing Atrocity PDF eBook
Author Mark S. Berlin
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 253
Release 2020-03-25
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0192590960

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Why do countries adopt criminal legislation making it possible to prosecute government and military officials for human rights violations? Over the past thirty years, dozens of countries have prosecuted their own or other states' officials for past atrocities. In Criminalizing Atrocity, Mark Berlin tells the story of the global spread of national criminal laws against atrocity crimes - genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity - laws that have helped pave the way for this remarkable trend toward greater accountability. He traces the early 20th-century origins of national atrocity laws to a group of influential European criminal law scholars and explains the global patterns by which these laws have since spread. Berlin shows that understanding why countries criminalize atrocities requires understanding how they do so. In many cases, criminalization has not been the result of concerted government initiative, but of inconspicuous choices made by technocratic legal experts who have been delegated authority to draft large-scale reforms to countries' national criminal codes. Drawing on research in comparative law and norm diffusion, Berlin explains how such reform projects prompt technocratic drafters to select legal ideas, like atrocity laws, that have been endorsed by their professional communities and deemed by drafters to be important features of a ''modern'' criminal code. To test this argument, Berlin draws on original quantitative and qualitative data, including in-depth case studies of Guatemala, Poland, Colombia, and the Maldives, and a new, comprehensive dataset tracking the global spread of atrocity laws since Word War II. The book's findings highlight the importance of professional communities in the modern renaissance of atrocity justice and the domestication of international legal norms.