C.V. Starr Lecture I

Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law with speaker Mark Drumbl, Class of 1975 Alumni Professor, and Director, Transnational Law Institute, Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Approved for 1.5 CLE credits in Professional Practice (CLE credits are free for graduates of New York Law School)

 

    • Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
    • Time: 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
    • Location: Wellington Conference Center (5th floor of the "C" Building)
    • Contact: Michael Rhee at (212) 431-2865. You may also send an e-mail to mrhee@nyls.edu
    • Click here for registration materials: including RSVP and payment information. There is no charge for CLE credits for NYLS graduates. There is also no charge for students and members of the general public not seeking CLE credit. But registration is still required.

In the last few decades, large-scale atrocities around the world have claimed the lives of millions of people. Crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes carried out in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Uganda, Kosovo, Rwanda, and now Darfur have sparked a call to hold accountable those responsible for these abuses. Through the development of international criminal law, the world community has prosecuted many individuals for carrying out these atrocities. 


But how do (and should) we then punish them? Professor Mark Drumbl, one of the nation’s leading scholars in this area of international criminal law, says that there has been a lack of critical analysis in exploring how and why criminal justice institutions (such as ad hoc UN criminal tribunals) punish atrocity crimes and whether the resulting sentences actually fit the severity of such crimes.

In his C.V. Starr Lecture, Professor Drumbl will challenge the notion that the punishment of extraordinary international crimes should uncritically adopt the methods and assumptions of ordinary criminal law. Crimes such as genocide, he believes, are simply not the same as common crimes. Consequently, Professor Drumbl questions whether the use of existing institutional frameworks in prosecuting and punishing individuals involved in massive human rights abuses is both appropriate and effective. He will argue that, ultimately, the growing use of existing international criminal law to prosecute these atrocities will neither deter them nor apportion proper punishment to those individuals who ordered or carried them out.


Citing case studies from his book Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (which has been described as “the first major study of punishment and sentencing in international criminal law”), Professor Drumbl will call for a broader range of responses in prosecuting and punishing atrocity crimes.


About Mark Drumbl


Mark Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law where he also serves as Director of the Transnational Law Institute. Professor Drumbl’s research and teaching interests include public international law, international criminal law, and post-conflict justice. His book Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2007) received the 2007 Book of the Year Award by the International Association of Criminal Law (U.S. national section). Professor Drumbl’s articles have appeared in a variety of law reviews and peer-review journals. He has worked as a defense lawyer in Rwanda; has consulted, taught, and lectured in many jurisdictions; and has served as an expert in U.S. federal and immigration court.