War Crimes and Terrorists

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer examines the issue of trials of terrorists that have been captured. The writer explains that trials have been proposed under different auspices, with one approach suggested being to try these individuals as war criminals, probably using military tribunals for the trials. The writer also mentions that other observers have argued that such an approach has the potential to damage justice and to bring the system into disrepute. However, according to the writer, the evidence suggests that there are more reasons to treat terrorism as a war crime than not. The writer concludes that the use of military tribunals emphasizes the idea that acts of terrorism are war crimes and so subject to greater international condemnation and legal action, being essentially crimes against humanity.

From the Paper:

"Currently, the administration of such trials falls under the purview of an executive order issued by President Bush that foreigners suspected of terrorism are to be tried by military tribunals instead of civilian courts. However, this fact has produced opposition from both liberals and conservatives, both seeing the move as a dangerous step leading to the elimination of the right to a trial by jury with a jury of one's peers. However, as an editorial from 2001 notes, there are precedents for using military tribunals in times of war, extending back at least to the Civil War, and the feared threat to normal trials has not materialized. After President Lincoln used military tribunals during the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled that military courts could not be used for civilians outside of a war zone. In 1942, though, the court decided that President Roosevelt did have the power to establish military tribunals for trials for foreigners who had violated the rules of war, for such individuals are not prisoners of war but offenders who can be tried and punished by military tribunals."

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• Research Paper # 86226 : "Constructing Crime and Criminality "

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