ABSTRACT

This book argues that the expressivist justice model provides a meaningful foundation for the participation of victims in international criminal proceedings.

Traditional criminal justice theories have tended to marginalise the role afforded to victims while informing the criminal procedures utilised by international criminal courts. As a result, giving content to, shaping, and enhancing victims’ participatory rights have been some of the most debated issues in international criminal justice. This book contributes to this debate by advancing expressivism, which has the capacity to create a historical narrative of gross human rights violations, as a core of international criminal justice able to provide a worthwhile basis for the participation of victims in proceedings and clarifying the scope and content of their participatory rights. The work provides an in-depth discussion on issues related to victims’ participatory rights from the perspective of international human rights law, victimology, and the philosophical foundation of international criminal justice.

The book will be a valuable resource for researchers, academics, and policymakers working in the areas of international criminal justice, international human rights law, transitional justice, and conflict studies.

chapter 1|13 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|29 pages

Victims' status under theories of criminal justice

A critical perspective

chapter 3|34 pages

Arguments for a change of paradigm in international criminal justice

Shortcomings of the retributive, utilitarian, and restorative models of justice

chapter 4|27 pages

Expressivism

A philosophical foundation for international criminal justice

chapter 5|28 pages

The expressivist dimension of victims' participation in international criminal proceedings

Harmonising the adversarial and inquisitorial systems

chapter 6|24 pages

A lesson from the regional human rights courts

An expressivist underpinning for victims' right to participate in criminal proceedings

chapter 7|35 pages

Victims before the Nuremberg IMT, the ICTY, and the ICTR

An expressivist deficit

chapter 9|9 pages

Conclusions