Excusable Evil

Description

Could Hitler have pleaded insanity Can a soldier participating in a massacre claim duress because his superior forced him In domestic criminal law complete defenses, such as insanity and duress, are relatively common legal concepts. But what is the role of these arguments in international criminal law Can horrific large-scale crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, ever be excusedThis book provides an analysis of cases featuring complete defenses before international criminal courts IMT, IMTFE, ICTY, ICTR and ICC. The conclusion of the analysis is that international criminal courts recognize most complete defenses in principle. However, they consistently reject them in practice. Courts thus tend to say Insanity is available as a complete defense but not in this case. This conclusion raises questions as to the compatibility between complete defenses and international crimes When they are never accepted in practice, should such defenses be available at all The final Part of the book answers this question in the affirmative and provides recommendations on the contents of complete defenses in the field of international criminal justice.About the auithorMaartje Krabbe Amsterdam, 1977 spent her high school years in Amsterdam and Groningen. After obtaining her gymnasium diploma, she studied a year at Lawrence University USA with a Fulbright Center scholarship. Upon her return to the Netherlands, she enrolled in Maastricht University Law School, spending one semester at Universit Paris V France and another one at the University of Limerick Ireland. She graduated in 2004, majoring in law and languages. From 2004 to 2012 Maartje Krabbe worked as a lecturer and researcher at Maastricht University, where she taught tort law, substantive criminal law, criminal procedure, comparative criminal law and international criminal law. She also carried out several research projects during this appointment, one of which resulted in the present thesis. Currently Maartje Krabbe is a lecturer and researcher at the criminal law department of Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.