Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR

<p>One of the fundamental principles of justice is consistency - like cases should be treated alike. Consistency of sentencing can be approached on several levels – the two fundamental ones being consistency in approach and consistency in outcome. The former refers to a principled way...

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Main Author: Barbora Hola
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam Law Forum 2012-12-01
Series:Amsterdam Law Forum
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.ubvu.vu.nl/alf/article/view/293
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author Barbora Hola
author_facet Barbora Hola
author_sort Barbora Hola
collection DOAJ
description <p>One of the fundamental principles of justice is consistency - like cases should be treated alike. Consistency of sentencing can be approached on several levels – the two fundamental ones being consistency in approach and consistency in outcome. The former refers to a principled way of sentence determination while the latter concerns the actual sentencing outcomes in a sense of numerical comparisons of sentence length across individual cases. This article analyses ‘consistency in approach’ of sentencing at the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR). The conclusions demonstrate that on a general level, a set of sentencing principles is consistently emphasised in the ICTY and ICTR cases. The inconsistencies and disparities across cases are, however, identified with respect to particularities, such as what factors are relevant for the gravity assessment and whether a particular mitigating/aggravating factor indeed aggravates/mitigates the sentence in a particular case. The main problem of the ICTY and ICTR judges’ sentencing reasoning seems to be a lack of transparency and clarity. On the basis of a critical examination of the ICTY and ICTR case law the article offers suggestions on how to develop more transparent and understandable sentencing practices.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-5b9c86beb5424193b5232a065b407ca62022-12-21T21:23:50ZengAmsterdam Law ForumAmsterdam Law Forum1876-81562012-12-0144324Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTRBarbora Hola<p>One of the fundamental principles of justice is consistency - like cases should be treated alike. Consistency of sentencing can be approached on several levels – the two fundamental ones being consistency in approach and consistency in outcome. The former refers to a principled way of sentence determination while the latter concerns the actual sentencing outcomes in a sense of numerical comparisons of sentence length across individual cases. This article analyses ‘consistency in approach’ of sentencing at the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR). The conclusions demonstrate that on a general level, a set of sentencing principles is consistently emphasised in the ICTY and ICTR cases. The inconsistencies and disparities across cases are, however, identified with respect to particularities, such as what factors are relevant for the gravity assessment and whether a particular mitigating/aggravating factor indeed aggravates/mitigates the sentence in a particular case. The main problem of the ICTY and ICTR judges’ sentencing reasoning seems to be a lack of transparency and clarity. On the basis of a critical examination of the ICTY and ICTR case law the article offers suggestions on how to develop more transparent and understandable sentencing practices.</p>http://ojs.ubvu.vu.nl/alf/article/view/293International Criminal Tribunal for the Former YugoslaviaInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwandaconsistencysentencing
spellingShingle Barbora Hola
Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
Amsterdam Law Forum
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
consistency
sentencing
title Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
title_full Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
title_fullStr Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
title_full_unstemmed Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
title_short Sentencing of International Crimes at the ICTY and ICTR
title_sort sentencing of international crimes at the icty and ictr
topic International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
consistency
sentencing
url http://ojs.ubvu.vu.nl/alf/article/view/293
work_keys_str_mv AT barborahola sentencingofinternationalcrimesattheictyandictr