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Richard A. Wilson
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Why do international criminal tribunals write histories of the origins and causes of armed conflicts? Professor Wilson conducted empirical research with judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and expert witnesses in three international criminal tribunals to understand how law and history are combined in the courtroom.
Historical testimony is now an integral part of international trials, with prosecutors and defense teams using background testimony to pursue decidedly legal objectives. Both use historical narratives to frame the alleged crimes and to articulate their side’s theory of the case. In the Slobodan Milošević trial, the prosecution sought to demonstrate special intent to commit genocide by reference to a long-standing animus, nurtured within a nationalist mind-set. For their part, the defense calls historical witnesses to undermine charges of superior responsibility, and to mitigate the sentence by representing crimes as reprisals. While legal ways of knowing are distinctive from those of history, the two are effectively combined in international trials in a way that challenges us to rethink the relationship between law and history.
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"How well do international criminal courts craft historical understandings of genocide, massacre and other grave violations of human rights? And how well do recent efforts to highlight such traumatic history in international trials promote sound judicial outcomes? These questions not only torment survivors, but should preoccupy everyone concerned with the cause of international criminal justice. Bringing to these issues the skills of a legal anthropologist, a learned appreciation of international humanitarian law and a refined legal sensibility, Richard Wilson provides answers based on path breaking new research. The first full-dress examination of this topic, this is a splendid book that should dominate the discussion of this important topic."
Michael R. Marrus
University of Toronto
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"International criminal trials contribute to our understanding of past events, whether it be the aggressive war launched by Nazi Germany and Japan, the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. The narrative often emerges from the tough questioning of academic historians by skilled barristers and judges. Richard Wilson provides us with the definitive study of the subject in this finely researched and written volume."
William Schabas
National University of Ireland, Galway
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"Perhaps it is inevitable for trials for major crimes of the recent past – in international as well as domestic jurisdictions – to address interpretations of history, but a courtroom is not the best setting for such an endeavor, especially when the events are still fresh in the memory of contemporaries. On the other hand, justice cannot and should not be blind to the historical context in which these momentous crimes have been committed. Richard Ashby Wilson presents the complexities and nuances of this dilemma with historical rigor but also with sympathy for the predicament of judges, prosecutors and defense counsel. Trials cannot settle conflicting interpretations of history nor should they be expected to do so. If properly managed within their own rules, they can however limit the scope of impermissible lies about those events. This book will prove to be a major contribution to that end."
Juan E. Mendez
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
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