Regina E. Rauxloh

Negotiated History: The Historical Record in International Criminal Law and Plea Bargaining

One of the most important functions of the international criminal trial is to create an accurate and accessible historical record. This paper analyses to what extent plea bargaining can hinder or facilitate the establishment of the historical record. Drawing on the experience of the ICTY and the ICTR the author makes a number of proposals as to what how and to extent plea bargaining should be used at the ICC to advance rather than to obstruct the historical record.

Police Officers as Victims: Sentencing Standards and their Justifications in England and Germany

While there is plenty of research into crime committed by police officers, surprisingly little debate can be found regarding the situation where a police officer becomes a victim. This is remarkable as the police not only embody criminal law enforcement but also epitomise state power. Based on a comparative study, this article examines how criminal law in England and Germany deals with attacks against police officers through separate criminal offences as well as increased sentences. The authors examine how the use of criminal law reflects on the state’s perception and valuation of the role of the police officer. It will be shown that while in England there is the clear understanding that the status of the victim as police officer has an aggravating effect, Germany strongly opposes the idea that the office-holder deserves more protection than ordinary citizens. On the contrary, the law takes in consideration that the offender finds him- or herself in a vulnerable situation when faced with the power of the state.

The Role of International Criminal Law in Environmental Protection

They draw too heavily, too quickly, on already overdrawn environmental resource accounts to be affordable far into the future without bankrupting those accounts. They may show profit on the balance sheets of our generation, but our children will inherit the losses. We borrow environmental capital from future generations with no intention or prospect of repaying. They may damn us for our spendthrift ways, but they can never collect on our debt to them. We act as we do because we can get away with it: future generations do not vote; they have no political or financial power; they cannot challenge our decisions.[i]