Drumbl, Mark A. --- "International punishment from ‘other’ perspectives" [2016] ELECD 783; in Mulgrew, Róisín; Abels, Denis (eds), "Research Handbook on the International Penal System" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 383

Book Title: Research Handbook on the International Penal System

Editor(s): Mulgrew, Róisín; Abels, Denis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783472154

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: International punishment from ‘other’ perspectives

Author(s): Drumbl, Mark A.

Number of pages: 22

Abstract/Description:

When it comes to punishment, international criminal courts and tribunals predominantly turn to imprisonment. While courtrooms are iconically used to prosecute suspects, jailhouses are reflexively deployed to sanction and discipline. To be sure, contemporary international criminal courts and tribunals can award restitutionary remedies (i.e. return to victims of property, proceeds, and assets acquired directly or indirectly from the convict’s criminal conduct), forfeiture, and fines. In practice, however, these possibilities remain spectral at best. Restitution, fines, and forfeiture, moreover, can only be awarded in addition to imprisonment. Reparations are also a possibility in some instances. For example, the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) – established by the ICCSt – has begun to support reparations projects (notably, through collective grants funded by donor States). Since this reparative approach to post-conflict justice is discussed in Chapter 17 of this book, it will not be repeated here. Notwithstanding some cause for optimism about the TFV’s activities, reparative justice nonetheless remains peripheral to the implementation of international criminal law and, according to Sara Kendall, therefore remains more liminal than actual. The bottom line is that at the international level incarceration has emerged as the dominant, preferred, presumptive, and nearly exclusive penalty for persons convicted of serious international crimes. International punishment means custodial sanction – this is axiomatically taken as an assured verity.