International Criminal Justice

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Professor Bill Bowring
• Assessment: a 4000-word coursework essay (100%)

In this module we examine regional and globalising developments impacting upon criminal justice and its institutions. The combination of lectures, seminars and role-play will ensure that you engage critically with a range of specific issues concerning the legitimacy and effectiveness of international criminal justice.

Outside speakers from the Redress Trust and other relevant NGOs and experts, as well as practitioners working at The Hague, Cambodia and elsewhere, will ensure that you have a good grasp of the role of practice in the various international judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms.

At the same time, you will be exposed to, and will debate, the wide variety of critical and contextual scholarly literature.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate a sound knowledge of the history of the development of international criminal justice, and of the various contemporary instruments and mechanisms on a regional and international level
• apply this foundational knowledge to relevant case studies, drawn from the work of practising lawyers
• carry out research into complex issues of international criminal justice, in order to prepare for the coursework research essay
• evaluate the legitimacy and effectiveness of the various systems for international criminal justice in the light of the critical scholarly literature
• analyse relevant issues concerning international criminal justice in order to come to sound conclusions regarding the present and future of this important branch of criminal law.