Image Based Evidence In International Criminal Prosecutions

The use of image-based evidence in international criminal prosecutions is at a tipping point. In his pioneering book on the topic, Jonathan W. Hak, KC provides critical insight into the authentication and interpretation of images, setting out how images can be effectively used in the search for the truth. While images can convey vital information more efficiently and effectively than words alone, the biases of photographers, the use of image-altering technology, and the generation of images with artificial intelligence can lead to mischief and injustice. In this context, images must be effectively authenticated and interpreted to establish their true meaning. Addressing the growing need for visual literacy, Jonathan W. Hak's Image-Based Evidence in International Criminal Prosecutions systematically explores the value of images as probative and didactic evidence in international criminal law. It analyses existing challenges in the creation, acquisition, processing, and use of image-based evidence, making recommendations for how those challenges might be addressed. In particular, the book investigates emerging technical frontiers in image-based evidence and the potential uses for advanced visual representations like virtual reality, immersive virtual environments, and augmented reality. Ultimately, the book argues that advanced visual representations may have sufficient probative value and proposes cautious parameters for their application in the international courtroom. An essential resource for anyone working with image-based evidence, the book offers significant guidance, relevant legal and technical detail, and recommendations for the use of image-based evidence in investigations and the courtroom.

In this pioneering book, Jonathan W. Hak offers insightful commentary on the authentication and interpretation of image-based evidence, setting out how it can be effectively used in international criminal prosecutions.

In Evidence in International Criminal Trials Mark Klamberg compares procedural activities relevant for international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court, including evaluation, collection, disclosure, admissibility and presentation of evidence. The author analyses what objectives are recognized in relation to the aforementioned procedural activities and whether it is possible to establish a priority between them. The concept of “robustness” is introduced to discuss the quantity of evidence in addition to concepts that deal with quality. Finally, the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence method is examined as one of several analytical steps that may contribute to the systematic evaluation of evidence. The book seeks to provide guidance on how to confront legal as well as factual issues.

This work deals with the exclusion of illicitly obtained evidence at the International Criminal Court. At the level of domestic law, the so-called exclusionary rule has always been a very prominent topic. The reason for this is that the way a court of law deals with tainted evidence pertains to a key aspect of procedural fairness. It concerns the balancing of the right to a fair trial with the interest of society in effective law enforcement. At the international level, however, the subject has not yet been discussed in detail. The present research intends to fill this gap. It provides an overview of the approaches of a number of domestic legal systems as well as of the approaches of the UN ad hoc tribunals and the European Court of Human Rights and uses the different perspectives to develop a version of the exclusionary rule which fits the International Criminal Court. The book is highly recommended for practitioners and researchers in the field of international criminal law and especially the law of international criminal evidence. Petra Viebig is a Public Prosecutor at the Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg, Germany.

What happens when the international community simultaneously pursues peace and justice in response to ongoing conflicts? What are the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the wars in which the institution intervenes? Is holding perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable a help or hindrance to conflict resolution? This book offers an in-depth examination of the effects of interventions by the ICC on peace, justice and conflict processes. The 'peace versus justice' debate, wherein it is argued that the ICC has either positive or negative effects on 'peace', has spawned in response to the Court's propensity to intervene in conflicts as they still rage. This book is a response to, and a critical engagement with, this debate. Building on theoretical and analytical insights from the fields of conflict and peace studies, conflict resolution, and negotiation theory, the book develops a novel analytical framework to study the Court's effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. This framework is applied to two cases: Libya and northern Uganda. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the core of the book examines the empirical effects of the ICC on each case. The book also examines why the ICC has the effects that it does, delineating the relationship between the interests of states that refer situations to the Court and the ICC's institutional interests, arguing that the negotiation of these interests determines which side of a conflict the ICC targets and thus its effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. While the effects of the ICC's interventions are ultimately and inevitably mixed, the book makes a unique contribution to the empirical record on ICC interventions and presents a novel and sophisticated means of studying, analyzing, and understanding the effects of the Court's interventions in Libya, northern Uganda - and beyond.

Summary: "Written by seasoned scholars and practitioners, this collection of essays provides a most comprehensive analysis of the institutional dynamics and political underpinnings of international criminal justice. They explore and provide critical comment on the main institutional difficulties experienced by International Tribunals."--Publisher description.

The book is a comprehensive narration of the use of expertise in international criminal trials offering reflection on standards concerning the quality and presentation of expert evidence. It analyzes and critiques the rules governing expert evidence in international criminal trials and the strategies employed by counsel and courts relying upon expert evidence and challenges that courts face determining its reliability. In particular, the author considers how the procedural and evidentiary architecture of international criminal courts and tribunals influences the courts’ ability to meaningfully incorporate expert evidence into the rational fact-finding process. The book provides analysis of the unique properties of expert evidence as compared with other forms of evidence and the challenges that these properties present for fact-finding in international criminal trials. It draws conclusions about the extent to which particularized evidentiary rules for expert evidence in international criminal trials is wanting. Based on comparative analyses of relevant national practices, the book proposes procedural improvements to address some of the challenges associated with the use of expertise in international criminal trials.

The editor, former Executive Secretary for the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, gathers the work of 30 legal scholars and international lawyers from Africa, Europe, and the Americas to provide an account of the legislative history of the Elements of Crimes and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Sections address the elements of crimes, from the makings of the elements and general principles of criminal law to the specific elements of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Rules of procedure and evidence are addressed in 14 chapters, including an elaboration of the rules themselves, discussion of jurisdiction and admissibility, evidence, investigation and prosecution, trial procedures, penalties, international cooperation and judicial assistance, and enforcement. The final section focuses on NGO's contribution to the making of the Elements and Rules. Includes a short introduction by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN. c. Book News Inc.