Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The International Criminal Court is the culmination of years of international criminal law and has served the global community by prosecuting the worst of crimes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The ICC Guidelines, however, do not adequately detail its sentencing policy nor describe the purpose behind the determination of the court's sentencing decisions. Subsequently, the ICC often fails to assert what policy guides them in making sentencing decisions, such as retribution, deterrence, or rehabilitation. This often leads to a disconnect between the harshness of the crime and the sentence imposed. The ICC has jurisdiction over the worst crimes known to humanity, and yet it states that long sentences should rarely be assigned to perpetrators. Although it is unclear if the ICC values deterrence over retribution, its unusually light sentences suggest that it values deterrence when it should instead focus on retribution. In analyzing the ICC's sentencing decisions, this Comment asserts that the ICC can only be understood within the context of the other previous international courts that came before it. This Comment will address the background of Nuremberg's International Military tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwwanda. After assessing each of these courts and their sentencing guidelines, this Comment will address the current state of international criminal law at the ICC and the reasoning behind each of the court's sentencing guidelines, assessing how those reasons may affect sentencing length and harshness. This Comment then will analyze different cases assessed by the various tribunals and the sentences reached, followed by the sentencing policies' impact on the ICC's judgments. As the sentencing policy of retribution has slowly been replaced by deterrence, this has led to lighter and lighter sentencing as the years have progressed. This Comment asserts the importance of the ICC and its influence in international criminal law, while stating that it must work to more actively follow the sentencing policy of retribution. The ICC must clearly delineate the purposes behind its sentencing decisions to ensure that the punishment fits the crime of perpetrators who have committed the worst crimes known to humanity.

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