The Prosecutorial Targets Question

Abstract

This chapter examines the practices that have influenced the selection of prosecutorial targets in different institutional settings and the implications for the scope and content of the historical narratives constructed by international criminal courts in their judgments. For this purpose, the chapter distinguishes between two forms of selectivity: first, situational selectivity, which concerns the mass atrocity situations that have been targeted for investigation within international criminal courts; and second, case selectivity, which concerns the individuals that have been targeted for prosecution within each situation. After revealing the prevailing influence of the political context on the prosecutorial focus of international criminal courts, the chapter turns to examine different strategies that have been deployed by defendants and their counsel—often in vain—in an effort to counter this hegemonic orientation.