International Criminal Law

796 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The importance of international criminal law

International criminal law

What is Criminal Law?
With the passage of time, people are becoming more and more cognizant of the fact that various nations have faced heavy losses due to conflicts amongst them. Today, world’s so called super powers are deeply in favor of adopting and implementing International Laws, which give details regarding the rights and obligations of the respective countries along with methods of dealing with each other both in peace and chaos. In case, any country breaches the International law then world powers shall unite to punish the guilty person under the guidelines of International Law. Well International Law has various segments out of which International Criminal Law is a significant one. International criminal law is responsible for punishing the people who are involved in extremely cruel activities globally.

How Criminal Law popularized?
In ancient times, kings were responsible to punish the culprits for cruel acts. However, after World War 1 there felt the dire need for introduction of criminal law against the culprits responsible for war crimes. International criminal law popularized when Treaty of Versailles in 1919 stated that the Emperor of Germany named Wilhelm II should be executed under International criminal law, however he was provided asylum in Netherland. Whereas after World War 11 tribunal courts were established by allied powers to punish Nazi regime for their brutal actions against the humans.
Since the World War 1, various criminal laws have been made to punish the people not just for war crimes but also for other cruel crimes against the humanity. After the establishment of various tribunal courts (As mentioned below) finally by 1993 a permanent court was constructed in Ha...

... middle of paper ...

...pect crimes incurred at the era of Red Khmer. Special Tribunal was set-up in Lebanon for investigation of Rafik Hariri assassination along with court at Kosovo to deduce the war crimes committed in the war.
Are there any specific Types of crimes?
Typical types of crime that are undertaken by International criminal law enlist war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crime of aggression.
In past we have witnessed variety of cruel measures especially by military and political leaders, consequently now civilized societies are formed to prevent the victims by taking strong actions against the defendants. Moreover, International criminal law may even step up in case local courts fail to prosecute international criminals. It is hoped that International Criminal Law along with other international laws may become successful in sustaining global peace and harmony.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing the Criminal Justice Systems of the US, UK and Japan

    2408 Words  | 5 Pages

    The criminal justice systems vary in each country as far as their policies and procedures go. Each aspect of the criminal justice system has its advantages and disadvantages. The main purpose of the criminal justice system is to sanction criminals, mitigate crime, increase security and uphold a fair system of justice. In some cultures, fairness is not always given as certain laws are expected to be honored. This paper will discuss the criminal justice system in the United States, England and Japan.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Nuremberg Trials

    2518 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Nuremberg Trials was unethically run and violated the rights of the Nazi leaders who were convicted of committing crimes against humanity. Primarily because the Allies sought to use the trials as a way to remind the Germans, who won the war ‘again’. Thus making it similar to the Treaty of Versailles in (19- ), through implying this notion of “Victors’ Justice”. Nevertheless, the Allies did to an extent ‘try’ to make the tribunal as ethical as possible,

    Read More

  • Post World War II: Sexual Violence and Genocide

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    crimes into national military codes and national legislation. More recently, the recognition of rape as an international crime was anchored by its listing in the statutes of international courts and tribunals and their modern judicial interpretation.

    Read More

  • Is Parole Ineffective of Effective in Curbing Recidivism?

    2253 Words  | 5 Pages

    All the laws, which concern with the administration of justice in cases where an individual has been accused of a crime, always begin with the initial investigation of the crime and end either with imposition of punishment or with the unconditional release of the person. Most of the time it is the duty of the members of constituted authorities to inflict the punishment. Thus it can be said that almost all of the punishments are an act of self-defense and an act of defending the community against different types of offences. According to Professor Hart “the ultimate justification of any punishment is not that it is deterrent but that it is the emphatic denunciation by the community of a crime” (Hart P.65). Whenever the punishments are inflicted having rationale and humane factor in mind and not motivated by our punitive passions and pleasures then it can be justified otherwise it is nothing but a brutal act of terrorism. Prison System: It has often been argued that the criminals and convicted prisoners are being set free while the law-abiding citizens are starving. Some people are strongly opposed the present prison and parole system and said that prisoners are not given any chance for parole. Prisons must provide the following results: Keep dangerous criminals off the street Create a deterrent for creating a crime The deterrent for creating a crime can be justified in the following four types Retribution: according to this type, the goal of prison is to give people, who commit a crime, what they deserved Deterrence: in this type of justification, the goal of punishment is to prevent certain type of conduct Reform: reform type describes that crime is a disease and so the goal of punishment is to heal people Incapacitation: the...

    Read More

  • The Cambodian Genocide

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    25 Nov 2013 Menzel, Jörg. Justice Delayed Or Too Late For Justice? The Khmer Rouge Tribunal And The Cambodian "Genocide" 1975-79. " Journal Of Genocide Research 9.2 (2007): 215-233.

    Read More

  • Customary International Law In Australia

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to Article 38 of the 1946 Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Court shall apply “international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law” in its decisions (Kritsiotis 123). In other words, the International Court of Justice cites customs as a formal source of law. According to Roberto Unger, author of Law in a Modern Society, customary international law is best defined as “any recurring mode of interaction among individuals and groups, together with the more or less explicit acknowledgement of these groups and individuals that such patterns of interaction produce reciprocal expectations of conduct that out to be satisfied (Shaw 72-73). In other words, customary international laws are primarily concerned with how and why sates behave in a particular manner. Customs derive from the behavior of states (state practice) and the subconscious belief that a behavior is inherently legal (opinio juris). Evidence of state behavior is documented in the decisions of domestic courts, international courts, and international organizations. Unlike treaty law, customary laws are binding on all states. Additionally, if a treaty derives from a custom it is also binding on all states. Some of the international court cases that have been instrumental in the development of customary international law include the Nicaragua v. United States case, the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, the Scotia case, the Asylum case, the Paquete Habana case, and the Lotus case.

    Read More

  • Is International Law Really Law?

    1727 Words  | 4 Pages

    International law is a body of legally binding rules that are suppose to govern the relations between sovereign states. (Cornell Law School) In order to be a qualified subject, a state has to be sovereign. To be considered sovereign the state needs to have territory, a population, and a government that is recognized or legitimized to most other states. In the more modern explanation of international law now can include the rights and obligation on intergovernmental international organizations and even individuals. Examples of an international organization would be Greenpeace or the United Nations and an example of an individual would be war criminals, a leader of a state that violated human rights during a time of war. When a dispute arise and cannot be solved amongst the two actors involved they can turn to the U.N. to arbitrate and to the International Court of Justice, one of many courts within the U.N. to find a resolution to their problem. The International Court of Justice’s main task is to help settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and...

    Read More

  • Criminal Acts in Sport

    9585 Words  | 20 Pages

    During the evaluation of the events in each topic area there are some legal terms that may need to be defined. These terms may also be defined differently depending on the state that the event occurs in. At the end of this paper there is a list of definitions that describe what a certain legal action could mean. All forms of government view these definitions similarly, however, each state may have differing consequences for each of the crimes.

    Read More

  • Subjects of International Law

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    First of all, we need to know the definition of the subjects of international law. In the perspective of legal theories, to identify the subjects of international law must be based on these following basic signals: The participation in international legal relations that be adjusted by the international law; having the will of independence in international activities; having a full rights and obligations severally toward other objects under the scope to adjust of international law; ability of shoulder the international legal responsibility for the acts executed by object. Generally, objects of international law are the entities that are participating in, or may have the ability to participate in the international legal relations independently. They have the full legal international rights and obligations for the acts executed by object.

    Read More

  • International Relations

    2631 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...th 2001). Roth argues that the concept of international jurisdiction is not a new idea but was exercised by the US government in the 1970 after an aircraft hijacking. Also the war crime courts established after the end of World War II exercised international jurisdiction. In fact the Geneva Convention states that is a person regardless of their nationality should be brought before the court of any state in which that person has committed grave breaches of law and convention. Roth states that the concept of international jurisdiction is not a new one but that only in recent years have states been willing to act on universal jurisdiction and go after criminals of the international community regardless of their stating or power within the international community. Roth believes in the ability and authority of international organizations and institutions (Roth 2001).

    Read More

  • The Enforcement of International Law

    4713 Words  | 10 Pages

    Members of The United Nations have a duty “to maintain international peace…in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.”[1] China, a core member of the United Nations since its formation in 1945, fails to comply with international human rights’ norms set forth by The United Nations Charter. This failure is noticeably prevalent in the practices of the Chinese Legal System. Its judicial proceedings in handling peaceful, political dissenters fail to provide the minimum protection of human rights guaranteed to all through international law. By examining accounts of Tibetans detained for such peaceful protests, this paper will set out to highlight the discrepancies between Chinese enforcement of international law in theory and in practice. Before this paper goes any further, the notion of international law must be explained. Providing a better understanding of international law will make easier the task of highlighting China’s struggles with enforcing such standards.

    Read More

  • International Law

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    International law has been regarded throughout history as the main system of rules regulating players of the international community, it applies to all states and imposes specific obligations and rights on nations, just as domestic law imposes them on individuals. Its purpose is similar to that of domestic law that is to eliminate chaos in the International community and set standards of behavior which states must follow in their dealings with each other.

    Read More

  • Public International Law

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Public International law International law contains of rules and principles, which preside over the relations and communication of nations with each other. International Law that is in most other countries referred to as Public International Law concerns itself only with questions of rights among more than a few nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In dissimilarity, Private International Law deals with controversies among confidential persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having important association to further than one nation. In current years the line up connecting public and private international law have became more and more doubtful. Issues of private international law may also associate issues of public international law and numerous matters of private international law nave considerable meaning for the international group of people of nations. International Law consists of the basic, classic concepts of law in nationwide legal systems, status, property, responsibility, and tort. It also includes substantive law, procedure, process and remedies.  International Law is rooted in receipt by the nation states, which comprise the system. Customary law and conventional law are primary sources of international law.  Customary international law results when states trail convinced practices usually and time after time out of an intelligence of legal responsibility. Lately the customary law was codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Conventional international law derives from international agreements and may obtain any appearance that the constricting parties have the same opinion upon. Agreements may be complete in admiration to any substance except for to the leve...

    Read More

  • The Purpose of Criminal Law

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing crime again while making him or her pay for their crimes. Retribution does not mean inflicting physical punishment by incarceration only, but it also may include things like rehabilitation and financial retribution among other things. The last purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law acts as the means through which the society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences meant to act as a way of deterring the offender from repeating the same crime in the future.

    Read More

  • Nuremberg Trials

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals that took place from November 20, 1954 to October 1, 1946. They were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany was responsible for the Holocaust, a program of genocide that consisted of “the deliberate annihilation of approximately 6 million European Jews before and during WWII” (Seltzer 512). As Telford Taylor, the Chief Counsel for War Crimes, wrote in 1949, “Nuremberg has been both hailed as a milestone in the evolution of international law and morality, and condemned as a wreaking of vengeance by the perversion of justice.” The legacy these trials leave behind is complex, and begs us to question our humanity and the laws that define our society. What was discovered in Nuremberg proves to be a chilling reminder of what the human mind is capable of and the weakness of the human psyche. Even the most seemingly normal person can be corrupted and manipulated by their thirst for power or their obedience to the status quo.

    Read More

More about International Criminal Law

Open Document