1. PROSECUTING EXTRATERRITORIAL ATROCITY CRIMES UNDER STATE LAW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PUERTO RICO MODEL.
- Author
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Bava, Julian
- Subjects
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ATROCITIES , *PROSECUTION , *EXTERRITORIALITY , *CRIMINAL jurisdiction , *CRIMINAL law , *JUSTICE administration - Abstract
Ideally, justice for mass atrocities would be meted out by national courts in the jurisdiction in which the crimes were committed. Due to political and practical constraints, however, this task is sometimes delegated to international tribunals and foreign courts that are able and willing to prosecute such cases. In the United States, human rights litigators have recourse to many federal statutes establishing civil and criminal penalties for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Academics and practitioners have argued in favor o f three main avenues o f international justice in U.S. courts: (1)federal tort claims, (2)federal criminal prosecution, and (3) state tort claims. This article argues that a fourth must be opened: (4) state criminal prosecutions. Whereas Congress is a body o f enumerated powers, state legislatures may prescribe criminal law subject only to the limitations set forth by the Constitution. States are empowered to prescribe criminal sanctions where Congress has not or cannot. Where the scope o f existing statutes is too limited to fidly capture the unconscionable injustices faced by survivors, state criminal law could fill the void. This Article discusses the viability o f state criminal prosecutions as a domestic model o f international justice by analyzing the only statute that currently permits such proceedings: Articles 299 and 300 o f the Puerto Rico Penal Code, which respectively codijy genocide and crimes against humanity. Part I defines four typologies o f justice fo r atrocities available within the U.S legal system and makes the case for pursuing criminal justice in state courts. Part II builds on these typologies to survey the current state o f U.S. atrocity law, and then introduces Puerto Rico's own atrocity crimes legislation. Part III analyzes the Puerto Rico statute, with an emphasis on its crimes against humanity provision. Part IV addresses several challenges that state atrocity crimes statutes might face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019