International Criminal Law

International Criminal Law provides a set of teaching materials furnishing students with a grounding in the transnational issues likely to arise in federal criminal cases, and also in the law produced as a consequence of international efforts to impose criminal responsibility on the perpetrators of human rights atrocities through global mechanisms, such as the International Criminal Court. International Criminal Law offers, for teaching purposes, a collection of cases (mainly domestic) and other materials (both domestic and international), together with notes and questions about those cases and materials.

The fifth edition begins with an examination of the scope of international criminal law, including consideration of the various sources of this law. Students are then introduced to important international criminal law doctrines and concepts before examining the various principles of jurisdiction that form the basis for the application of domestic and international law.

Following these introductory materials, International Criminal Law focusses on a crafted selection of criminal enforcement areas with both domestic and international applications, including bribery, antitrust and securities regulation, export controls, computer crimes, narcotics and money laundering, piracy, terrorism, torture, and human trafficking. In examining these areas of enforcement, the book considers the domestic statutory landscape, the extraterritorial application of domestic statutes, and, where appropriate, the manner in which international laws, conventions, and norms address the topics from a global perspective. In examining bribery, for example, the chapter considers both the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and international equivalents and agreements in this space, such as the U.K. Bribery Act and OECD Convention.

International Criminal Law then immerses students in procedural law and policy related to international criminal law. This portion of the book considers the extraterritorial application of the U.S. Constitution, immunities from jurisdiction, international evidence gathering procedures, extradition, abduction, deportation, prisoner transfer, post-conviction issues, and international human rights covenants and conventions and their impact on criminal procedure.

Finally, International Criminal Law introduces students to the four crimes of most concern to the international community—Aggression, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes. The book also examines the various courts and mechanisms used to bring those accused of these atrocities to justice, beginning with the Nuremberg and Tokyo precedents. Examination of these early forms of international tribunal are followed by materials examining more recent courts and mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, Ad Hoc tribunals, hybrid tribunals and other creative variations.

The new fifth edition includes important updates in the field, along with an expanded discussion of human trafficking and a new dedicated chapter on organized crime.