Global Criminal Justice: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed

In this article in the Symposium on Milosevic & Hussein on Trial, the author argues that not only is global justice brain dead as a possible reality, but the concept was always an unreachable dream in a world with no global authority to be held accountable for the world's misery. Explanation of the author's assertions locates the source of the dream in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), since it was the only truly international tribunal in history. The advantage of local or national justice over issues of moral hazard, challenges to justice, the political responsibility of new governments, & the glacial pace of tribunals are contextualized in the international environment that offers no incentives for international community such as the cases of Chile, South Africa, the ICTY, & Nazi war criminals. The author concludes that justice for humanity is not justice, & is a responsibility far too serious to be left to an entity as distracted, divided, & diffuse as the international community.

J. Harwell