Principled International Criminal Justice

Principles of Evidence in International Criminal Justice provides an overview of the procedure and practice concerning the admission and evaluation of evidence before the international criminal tribunals. The book is both descriptive and critical and its emphasis is on day-to-day practice, drawing on the experience of the Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone Tribunals. This book is an attempt to define and explain the core principles and rules that have developed at those ad hoc Tribunals; the rationale and origin of those rules; and to assess the suitability of those rules in the particular context of the International Criminal Court which is still at its early stages. The ICC differs in structure from the ad hoc Tribunals and approaches the legal issues it has to resolve differently from its predecessors. The ICC is however confronted with many of the same questions. The book examines the differences between the ad hoc Tribunals and the ICC and seeks to offer insights as to how and in which circumstances the principles established over years of practice at the ICTY, ICTR and SCSL may serve as guidance to the ICC practitioners of today and the future. The contributors represent a cross-section of the practicing international criminal bar, drawn from the ranks of the Bench, the Prosecution and the Defence and bringing with them different legal domestic cultures. Their mixed background underlines the recurring theme in this book which is the manner in which a legal culture has gradually taken shape in the international Tribunals, drawing on the various traditions and experiences of its participants.

Principles of International Criminal Law is one of the leading textbooks in the field of international criminal justice. This fourth edition retains the detailed and systematic approach of previous editions, whist adding substantial new material on new theories, laws, and prosecutions.

Principles of International Criminal Law has become one of the most influential textbooks in the field of international criminal justice. It offers a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the foundations and general principles of substantive international criminal law, including thorough discussion of its core crimes. It provides a detailed understanding of the general principles, sources, and evolution of international criminal law, demonstrating how it has developed, and how its application has changed. After establishing the general principles, the book assesses the four key international crimes as defined by the statute of the International Criminal Court: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. This new edition revises and updates work with developments in international criminal justice since 2009. It includes new material on the principle of culpability as one of the fundamental principles of international criminal law, the notion of terrorism as a crime under international law, the concept of direct participation in hostilities, the problem of so-called unlawful combatants, and the issue of targeted killings. The book retains its highly-acclaimed systematic approach and consistent methodology, making the book essential reading for both students and scholars of international criminal law, as well as for practitioners and judges working in the field.

Commencing its search for a principled international criminal justice, this book argues that the Preamble to the Rome Statute requires a very different notion of justice than that which would be expected in domestic jurisdictions. This thinking necessitates theorising what international criminal justice requires in terms of its legitimacy much more than normative invocations, which in their unreality can endanger the satisfaction of two central concerns – the punitive and the harm-minimisation dimensions. The authors suggest that because of the unique nature and form of the four global crimes, pre-existing proof technologies are failing prosecutors and judges, forcing the development of an often unsustainable line of judicial reasoning. The empirical focus of the book is to look at JCE (joint criminal enterprise) and aiding and abetting as case-studies in the distortion of proof tests. The substantial harm focus of ICJ (international criminal justice) invites applying compatible proof technologies from tort (causation, aggregation, and participation). The book concludes by examining recent developments in corporate criminal liability and criminalising associations, radically asserting that even in harmonising/hybridising international criminal law there resides a new and rational vision for the juridical project of international criminal justice.

"The ambitious aim of the work is to create a guiding framework for international criminal procedural law and practices in the future. As explained by the working groups, the overarching objective of the project is to assist the challenge of delivering fair but also effective trials". -- FOREWORD.

The goal of this book is to minimize the misunderstandings and conflicts between International law and Islamic law. The objective is to bring peace into justice and justice into peace for the prevention of violations of human rights law, humanitarian law, international criminal law, and impunity.

The principle of complementarity provides a framework as to when the Prosecutor of the ICC may and should interfere "vis-a-vis" national judicial systems. The principle acknowledges the primary right of states to prosecute while also recognising the need for international interference when states fail in this task. As formulated in the Rome Statute, however, it leaves complex questions unresolved. To mention a few: When is a national criminal proceeding really an attempt to shield the perpetrator? When can a national judicial system be characterised as unavailable? And when will an ICC prosecution serve the interests of justice? This book seeks to answer these and other related questions by interpreting the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute and discussing them in a broad context. The book also critically assesses policy considerations underlying the establishment of the ICC, including the implications of international criminal justice for achieving peace. It asks, "inter alia," whether the ICC should set aside an amnesty which a national truth commission has granted in an attempt to achieve a peaceful transition from tyranny to democracy.

Presents a study of the historical antecedents of the principle of complementarity. This work draws upon the first efforts at international prosecution, after the First World War, and then traces the evolution of the concept through the drafting of the 1937 treaty on terrorism, and the post-Second World War tribunals.