Abstract

Transitional justice encompasses a range of processes that deal with human rights abuses in the context of attempted transitions away from conflict and/or repression.  Transitional justice aims at transforming political relationships among citizens and between citizens and officials of the society in which conflict and/or repression occurred. Processes of transitional justice facilitate this transformation in a manner that treats victims and perpetrators fittingly and appropriately.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has multiple audiences, including the international community as well as the specific domestic communities from which particular cases originate.  The ICC has multiple aims, including the ending of impunity and the maintenance of peace.  I discuss synergies and tensions between the pursuit of peace within a particular country and the pursuit of peace internationally.  I also consider the limits of criminal trials and punishment in ending impunity for the crimes that fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction.

Colleen Murphy

Colleen Murphy is a Professor in the College of Law and the Departments of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Director of the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program in International Programs and Studies, and Affiliate Faculty of the Beckman Institute. She holds a MA and PhD in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BA from the University of Notre Dame. Her research areas are Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy, Risk, Engineering Ethics.