International Justice

(Formerly Law 786) Mass atrocities---including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity---continue to rage around the world, from Syria and South Sudan to Iraq and Myanmar. This course examines origins, operations, and outcomes of historical and contemporary international justice measures to address such heinous crimes. We will consider the full range of judicial, legislative, and executive "transitional justice" mechanisms available to policymakers as societies emerge from periods of violence and repression. These mechanisms include war crimes tribunals (such as the International Criminal Court), truth commissions, amnesties, lustration, exile, indefinite detention, lethal force, and inaction. The course draws on various case studies, including present-day Syria and Iraq, Rwanda and the Balkans in the 1990s, and World War II. Readings address the legal, political, and philosophical underpinnings of justice; questions of institutional design; and how different societies have balanced competing policy imperatives. Students may take the course for two or three units depending on the length of the paper. Students will receive Research credit for the seminar. This class is limited to 20 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS (15 students will be selected by lottery) and five non-law students by consent of instructor. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper.