Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-7-2016
Abstract
Whether and how violence can be controlled to spare innocent lives is a central issue in international relations. The most ambitious effort to date has been the International Criminal Court (ICC), designed to enhance security and safety by preventing egregious human rights abuses and deterring international crimes. We offer the first systematic assessment of the ICC's deterrent effects for both state and nonstate actors. Although no institution can deter all actors, the ICC can deter some governments and those rebel groups that seek legitimacy. We find support for this conditional impact of the ICC cross-nationally. Our work has implications for the study of international relations and institutions, and supports the violence-reducing role of pursuing justice in international affairs.
Keywords
International Criminal Court (ICC), international criminal justice, deterrence, peace, insurgent groups, civil war, war crimes
Publication Title
International Organization
Repository Citation
Jo, Hyeran and Simmons, Beth A., "Can the International Criminal Court Deter Atrocity?" (2016). All Faculty Scholarship. 1686.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/1686
Included in
Criminal Law Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Relations Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Legal Remedies Commons, Models and Methods Commons, Other International and Area Studies Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Public Policy Commons
Publication Citation
70 Int’l Org. 443 (2016).