Symposium: The Future of International Criminal Justice

The Santa Clara Journal of International Law, together with the Santa Clara University School of Law Center for Global Law and Policy, will host a symposium on "The Future of International Criminal Justice," March 13-14, 2009. The program is here. Why attend?

Given the centrality of institutions and processes of international criminal justice to contemporary public international law and international relations, this conference brings together leading academics and practitioners to discuss cutting edge issues associated with international criminal law and its enforcement. Our perspective is expressly forward looking in an effort to anticipate where the field is going in light of its current manifestations.

Our keynote speaker is Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, one of the world’s leading experts on international criminal law. The conference will feature four main papers on the following topics: the controversial exercise of universal jurisdiction, the principle of complementarity before the International Criminal Court, responses to collective and systemic criminal behavior, and the contested crime of terrorism. The symposium will feature four panels, one for each of the four main papers, in which expert commentators will provide a range of perspectives on the topics addressed in those papers. The symposium will conclude with a roundtable discussion in which panelists will explore how the international legal system may better achieve the goals of international criminal law.