ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the problems of legitimising and assessing the outcomes of the work of international criminal justice institutions. On the one hand, many commentators argue that international institutions of criminal justice have made enormous strides in terms of legitimacy. On the other hand, as the editors highlight, it is rare to hear of the aim of rehabilitating an international criminal or warlord despite the prominence of restorative and transitional justice paradigms. The work of leading criminologists, such as Stan Cohen and John Braithwaite, seems to show the need to leave behind many of the concerns of traditional criminology if it is necessary to grasp the many challenges of international crime and peace-making. The UN Security Council resolution says that it will carry out targeted offensive operations to neutralise armed groups and this is the first time any UN peace-keeping force has been given such an offensive mandate.
