Book contents
- The Right to Punish
- Studies on International Courts and Tribunals
- The Right to Punish
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Permissibility of Punishment
- 3 The Authority to Punish
- 4 Legitimate Authority and International Institutions
- 5 Fairness, Equality, and Democratic Authority
- 6 Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
5 - Fairness, Equality, and Democratic Authority
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2024
- The Right to Punish
- Studies on International Courts and Tribunals
- The Right to Punish
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Permissibility of Punishment
- 3 The Authority to Punish
- 4 Legitimate Authority and International Institutions
- 5 Fairness, Equality, and Democratic Authority
- 6 Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
In this chapter, I argue that international criminal law institutions must satisfy two criteria to justify their claim to legitimate authority. First, they need to ensure fair trials. But while fairness is a necessary condition for the legitimate authority of the international exercise of criminal justice, it is not a sufficient condition. Institutions need to answer the subordination complaint: When some rule, others are subordinated to their rule – and the point of legitimate institutions is to address how this fact can be reconciled with the equal status of persons. An adequate way to respond to the subordination complaint is to vest institutions with democratic procedures that ensure equal control over the coercive rule of an institution. In the final part of chapter five, I highlight two strategies that enable states and individuals to exercise equal control over the court. The first strategy involves a legislative assembly that deliberates and decides on questions of criminal justice and institutional design. The second strategy seeks to make judicial lawmaking, where it is inevitable, more accountable to the public.
Keywords
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- The Right to PunishPolitical Authority and International Criminal Justice, pp. 109 - 155Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024