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Criminal Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law

Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

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 …


Manifest Illegality And The Icc Superior Orders Defense: "Schuldtheorie" Mistake Of Law Doctrine As An Article 33(1)(C)Panacea, Lydia Ansermet Jan 2014

Manifest Illegality And The Icc Superior Orders Defense: "Schuldtheorie" Mistake Of Law Doctrine As An Article 33(1)(C)Panacea, Lydia Ansermet

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

While the Anglo-American and international legal systems adhere to the rule that "a mistake of the law excuses no one," German Schuldtheorie mistake of law doctrine provides for a mistake of law excuse if a defendant's mistaken belief in the lawfulness of his conduct was unavoidable. In a distinct but increasingly overlapping area of law, domestic and international legal systems provide defenses for subordinates acting in obedience to superior orders. At the international level, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court allows defendants charged with war crimes to invoke the defense of superior orders if the command obeyed was …