International Criminal Law Although we can trace the roots of
international criminal law to the Nuremburg and Tokyo war crimes
trials held after World War II, the field has experienced
remarkable growth in the past 15 years. The international
community has created a range of new international criminal
tribunals to investigate and prosecute international crimes, and
national courts now also exercise criminal jurisdiction over
international or transnational crimes that have occurred in
countries thousands of miles away. The substantive criminal law
has expanded, and notions of individual responsibility for
international crimes have also evolved, extending the reach of
international criminal law. At the same time, new debates have
emerged about the suitability of using criminal justice
mechanisms to respond to mass atrocity situations, and some
increasingly question the legitimacy of vesting the
international community, rather than the affected states, with
responsibility for addressing such offenses. This cours