The International Criminal Court and restorative justice: victims, participation and the processes of justice

Abstract

Until recently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) described its legal practices as offering a balance between retributive and restorative justice. It was held that restorative justice was progressed through its framework of victim participation in legal proceedings. However, there is little research into how, or whether, the Court metes out restorative justice. This article first considers the key pillars of restorative justice as ‘encounter’, ‘amends’ and ‘reintegration’, and the form of victim participation within these practices. It then examines how the ICC aligns to the direct participation of victims prioritised by restorative justice, and shows that victims do not hold such participatory possibilities. Instead, legal professionals take on direct participation in dialogue and decision-making processes. Using Bourdieu’s framing of the juridical field, the article identifies key reasons for the absence of direct victim participation and argues that the ICC primarily functions as a retributive approach to the resolution of conflict.

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