International and Comparative Penal Law and Human Rights

 

The imposition and implementation of punishment are being influenced to an increasing extent by developments in international human rights law and by the emergence of an international criminal justice system. 

This course analyses the international instruments that prohibit torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and the manner in which these concepts have been applied by international, regional and national tribunals.  Particular attention is paid to the development, both by the United Nations and regional bodies such as the Council of Europe, of more specific standards that impact on national practices in respect of both the imposition and the implementation of sentences. 

A recent development in this regard is that rules have been made on how the sentences are to be imposed by the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the International Criminal Court and how such sentences are to be implemented: these rules are studied closely as they may be seen as examples of current international best practice. 

Although developments in this area are exciting, one ought not to overstate their impact.  Careful attention is paid to the limitations of attempts to use international law on punishment in national jurisdictions. Specific topics that are studied in respect of the interaction of international and national law include attempts to outlaw capital and corporal punishment and to limit the use of life imprisonment in national systems. The impact of international law on procedures for dealing with children and victims of crime is also considered.