Book chapter
Black Guilt, White Guilt at the International Criminal Court
Race and National Security, pp 211-228
12 Nov 2023
Abstract
All but one defendant convicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been a Black man. This is not a happenstance. This chapter elucidates how the jurisdictional and substantive law that governs the ICC systematically results in Black guilt being heightened, while White guilt is minimized. With these convictions, the ICC builds on a long history of criminalizing Blackness. Still, there is something particularly invidious about this in the context of international criminal law that this chapter seeks to expose. Because the ICC ostensibly prosecutes only “the most serious crimes of international concern,” these convictions express the not-so-subtle suggestion that the “worst of the worst” criminals on the planet are Black men. More troubling still, given the long-standing characterization of international crimes as evil, it perpetuates well-documented stereotypes of darker skin being associated with evil, thereby building on a pernicious narrative of the “evil Black body.” This international criminalization of Black men results in a shallow understanding of the root causes of atrocity, thereby undermining international criminal law’s potential for contributing to collective peace and security.
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10 citations in Scopus
Details
- Title
- Black Guilt, White Guilt at the International Criminal Court
- Creators
- Rachel López - Drexel University, Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Publication Details
- Race and National Security, pp 211-228
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press; New York
- Number of pages
- 18
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85182288629
- Other Identifier
- 991021863006104721