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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Law
Searching For The Hinterman: In Praise Of Subjective Theories Of Imputation, Jens David Ohlin
Searching For The Hinterman: In Praise Of Subjective Theories Of Imputation, Jens David Ohlin
Jens David Ohlin
How should international courts distinguish between principals and accessories? The ICC answered this question with Roxin’s Control Theory of Perpetration; defendants should be convicted as principals if they control the crime individually, jointly with a co-perpetrator, indirectly via an organized apparatus of power, or as indirect co-perpetrators (via a combination of the previous doctrines). As the ICC adopted the control requirement, however, some of its decisions have allowed lower mental states such as recklessness or dolus eventualis to meet the standard for principal perpetration under the Control Theory. Other decisions have asserted that intent or knowledge is required though their …
Joint Criminal Confusion, Jens David Ohlin
Joint Criminal Confusion, Jens David Ohlin
Jens David Ohlin
Article 25 on individual criminal responsibility has generated more conflicting interpretations than any other provision in the Rome Statute. Part of the problem is that it is impossible to construct a coherent and nonredundant interpretation of Article 25(3)(d) on group complicity. Because of unfortunate drafting, both the required contribution and the required mental element are impossible to discern from the inscrutable language. As a result, it is nearly impossible to devise a holistic interpretation of Article 25(3)(d) that fits together with the rest of Article 25 and Article 30 on mental elements. One possible solution is to repair Article 25 …
Assessing The Control-Theory, Jens David Ohlin, Elies Van Sliedregt, Thomas Weigend
Assessing The Control-Theory, Jens David Ohlin, Elies Van Sliedregt, Thomas Weigend
Jens David Ohlin
As the first cases before the ICC proceed to the Appeals Chamber, the judges ought to critically evaluate the merits and demerits of the control-theory of perpetratorship and its related doctrines. The request for a possible re-characterization of the form of responsibility in the case of Katanga and the recent acquittal of Ngudjolo can be taken as indications that the control-theory, is problematic as a theory of liability. The authors, in a spirit of constructive criticism, invite the ICC Appeals Chamber to take this unique opportunity to reconsider or improve the control-theory as developed by the Pre-Trial Chambers in the …
Reclaiming Fundamental Principles Of Criminal Law In The Darfur Case, George P. Fletcher, Jens David Ohlin
Reclaiming Fundamental Principles Of Criminal Law In The Darfur Case, George P. Fletcher, Jens David Ohlin
Jens David Ohlin
According to the authors, the Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur and the Security Council referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) bring to light two serious deficiencies of the ICC Statute and, more generally, international criminal law: (i) the systematic ambiguity between collective responsibility (i.e. the responsibility of the whole state) and criminal liability of individuals, on which current international criminal law is grounded, and (ii) the failure of the ICC Statute fully to comply with the principle of legality. The first deficiency is illustrated by highlighting the notions of genocide …
Three Conceptual Problems With The Doctrine Of Joint Criminal Enterprise, Jens David Ohlin
Three Conceptual Problems With The Doctrine Of Joint Criminal Enterprise, Jens David Ohlin
Jens David Ohlin
This article dissects the Tadic court’s argument for finding the doctrine of joint criminal enterprise in the ICTY Statute. The key arguments are identified and each are found to be either problematic or insufficient to deduce the doctrine from the statute: the object and purpose of the statute to punish major war criminals, the inherently collective nature of war crimes and genocide and the conviction of war criminals for joint enterprises in World War II cases. The author criticizes this overreliance on international case law and the insufficient attention to the language of criminal statutes when interpreting conspiracy doctrines. The …
A Contextualized Account Of General Principles Of International Law, Michelle Biddulph, Dwight Newman
A Contextualized Account Of General Principles Of International Law, Michelle Biddulph, Dwight Newman
Pace International Law Review
This Article examines general principles of international law through the innovative means of comparing their use in four different, novel areas of international law—international environmental law, international investment law, international criminal law, and international indigenous rights. By doing so, the Article is able to make the distinct claim that there is no one, single methodology for analysis of general principles of international law. Rather, each area of international law tends to use a methodology suited to its policy objectives and overall characteristics as a specific area of law. The Article characterizes two predominant academic approaches to general principles: a purely …
Excuses, Justifications, And Duress At The International Criminal Tribunals, Noam Wiener
Excuses, Justifications, And Duress At The International Criminal Tribunals, Noam Wiener
Pace International Law Review
This article examines the application of the defense of duress by international criminal tribunals through analyzing opposing theoretical approaches to justifications and excuses. The purpose of this examination is twofold. First, the article offers a framework for duress’s application by examining scholarly approaches to duress and by analyzing the application of the defense by international tribunals. This analysis includes the tribunals constituted following the Second World War and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Second, the article provides insight into the underlying rationales that guide judges at the international tribunals in the last decade through the judges’ application …
Searching For The Hinterman: In Praise Of Subjective Theories Of Imputation, Jens David Ohlin
Searching For The Hinterman: In Praise Of Subjective Theories Of Imputation, Jens David Ohlin
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
How should international courts distinguish between principals and accessories? The ICC answered this question with Roxin’s Control Theory of Perpetration; defendants should be convicted as principals if they control the crime individually, jointly with a co-perpetrator, indirectly via an organized apparatus of power, or as indirect co-perpetrators (via a combination of the previous doctrines). As the ICC adopted the control requirement, however, some of its decisions have allowed lower mental states such as recklessness or dolus eventualis to meet the standard for principal perpetration under the Control Theory. Other decisions have asserted that intent or knowledge is required though their …
Litigating For Justice: Defense Work At The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda (Ictr), Beth S. Lyons
Litigating For Justice: Defense Work At The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda (Ictr), Beth S. Lyons
Beth S. Lyons
Fair trial issues are usually a key part of any defense strategy – at trial or on appeal – but they serve an additional function at the international tribunals. They provide a “lever” for finding the truth. Fair trial guarantees – such as full disclosure of exculpatory material and other principles - make for truth telling; and they mitigate against the writing/re-writing history through judgments. Where there are fair trial violations, the likelihood of an accurate historical account, based on the evidence, is virtually non-existent. Hence, the struggle for fairness is a struggle for the truths.
Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis
Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The field of post-conflict justice includes many well-known international criminal law and rule of law initiatives, from the International Criminal Court to legal reform programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Less visible, but nonetheless vital to the field, are the international staff (known as internationals) who carry out these transitional justice enterprises, and the networks and communities of practice that connect them to each other. By sharing information, collaborating on joint action, and debating proposed legal rules within their networks and communities, internationals help to develop and implement the core norms and practices of post-conflict justice. These modes of collaboration are …
The Special Tribunal For Lebanon: A Defense Perspective, Charles C. Jalloh
The Special Tribunal For Lebanon: A Defense Perspective, Charles C. Jalloh
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article analyzes the absence of organs tasked with guaranteeing the rights of the defense in international criminal law. It explains the historical origins of the problem, tracing it back to the genesis of modern prosecutions at the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. It then explains how the organizational charts of the UN courts for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone omitted the defense and essentially treated it as a second class citizen before the eyes of the law. This sets the stage for the author to show why the creation of the first full-fledged defense organ in international criminal …
Judging Leaders Who Facilitate Crimes By A Foreign Army: International Courts Differ On A Novel Legal Issue, Mugambi Jouet
Judging Leaders Who Facilitate Crimes By A Foreign Army: International Courts Differ On A Novel Legal Issue, Mugambi Jouet
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
In one of the most significant cases in the history of international criminal law, Prosecutor v. Perisic, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) effectively addressed an issue of first impression: may a military or political leader be convicted for knowingly facilitating crimes by another state's army? The influential tribunal answered this question in the negative--knowledge that the recipients of military assistance are perpetrating crimes is essentially irrelevant absent evidence that the facilitator specifically intended that crimes occur. The ICTY Appeals Chamber thus acquitted Serbian General Momilo Peridid, who had been convicted at trial of knowingly aiding and …
International Criminal Law For Retributivists, Alexander K.A. Greenawalt
International Criminal Law For Retributivists, Alexander K.A. Greenawalt
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Responding to the proliferation of international criminal tribunals during the last two decades, scholars have engaged in a rich debate about the normative foundations of international criminal law (“ICL”). The retributive theory of punishment--which justifies punishment based on the culpability of the accused, rather than by reference to its social benefits--has met with significant skepticism in these discussions. Some have argued that unique features of international criminal justice--for example, the extreme selectivity of punishment or the lack of certain social or political preconditions--are a poor match for retributive theory. Others have ignored retributivism altogether, or afforded the theory only passing …
The Problem Of Risk In International Criminal Law, Mark A. Summers
The Problem Of Risk In International Criminal Law, Mark A. Summers
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis
Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis
Articles
The field of post-conflict justice includes many well-known international criminal law and rule of law initiatives, from the International Criminal Court to legal reform programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Less visible, but nonetheless vital to the field, are the international staff (known as internationals) who carry out these transitional justice enterprises, and the networks and communities of practice that connect them to each other. By sharing information, collaborating on joint action, and debating proposed legal rules within their networks and communities, internationals help to develop and implement the core norms and practices of post-conflict justice. These modes of collaboration are …
Accelerated Formation Of Customary International Law, Michael P. Scharf
Accelerated Formation Of Customary International Law, Michael P. Scharf
Faculty Publications
This article examines the phenomenon of accelerated formation of customary international law. It argues that in periods of fundamental change (which the author characterizes as "Grotian Moments"), whether by technological advances, the commission of new forms of crimes against humanity, or the development of new means of warfare or terrorism, customary international law may form much more rapidly and with less state practice than is normally the case to keep up with the pace of developments. The article examines several case studies that explore the application and contours of the concept of "Grotian Moments."