ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the rationale for examining criminal theory alongside international human rights law. It reviews the state of existing literature and notes that it lacks detailed analysis of the outcomes and reasoning of international human rights law jurisprudence on criminalization. The chapter sets out what the book takes as a definition of the criminal offence, as well as the scope of international human rights law. It states that the aim of the book is to discuss whether international human rights law can either itself provide guiding principles for criminalization or otherwise make a significant contribution to existing criminal theory.
