RETRIBUTION IN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The concept of international criminal justice process is underpinned by several goals or objectives in international criminal law. Among the goals or objectives are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, denunciation/education, vindicating the rights of the victims, recording history, and post-conflict reconciliation. Flowing from the above, the focus of this essay will be on retribution as one of the goals or objectives underpinning the international criminal justice process; and it will argue by showing the extent to which retribution has been realized by the following international criminal justice mechanisms namely: the International Military Tribunals (for Nuremberg and for Tokyo and Far East), the ad hoc Tribunals (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), some of the Internationalised Courts, National Courts, and the International Criminal Courts.