Investigating International Welfare in the Statute of the International Criminal Court

Abstract

By establishing an international jurisdiction for international criminal justice, punishment has become “international.” Despite numerous legal analyses in various doctrines, human rights studies, and justice studies, there is a lack of quantitative analytical efforts to engage with the working assumptions, cultural commitments, and dominant mind-sets that shape international criminal justice as an illegal field. This article compares international criminal justice punishment with recent modern domestic criminal punishment based on various studies, interviews with key actors, and critical readings of international criminal justice research. The argument makes the distinction between “national” justice and international criminal justice. For example, while national punishment is based on retribution justifications, there is no demand for severe criminal punishment and no attention to prisoner rehabilitation. Instead, it represents a humane and expressive form of justice where the victim is placed at the center stage as a representation of suffering humanity. In addition, there is a significant belief in the transformative effects of international criminal justice that resemble a kind of “internationalized” criminal welfare. As national capacity building and illegal development are inherent in the international criminal justice project, this article demonstrates how the international dimension of punishment power is based on the ethicalization of criminal policy and welfare orientation.