LD-JanFeb2009

Resolved: The United States ought to submit to the jurisdiction of an international court designed to prosecute crimes against humanity.
Background Reading
 * Wikipedia Article: [|International Criminal Court]
 * Wikipedia Article: [|Crime Against Humanity]
 * Wikipedia Article: [|Nuremberg Principles]
 * Google Custom News: [|Check First Four Sections]


 * Value: Justice.** When crimes against humanity are alleged, is justice better served by an international court, or by (sovereign) national courts?


 * Criterion: Fair Trial.** The goal of all courts is to produce a fair trial. In which the rights of the accused are protected and criminal charges are fairly adjudicated. Advocates on both sides of this topic take it for granted that a fair trial is the criterion for winning the argument. Writers sympathetic to the Affirmative side of this resolution claim that if the US does not submit to the jurisdiction of an international court, it cannot argue that anyone else should, making it impossible to prosecute crimes against humanity. Writers sympathetic to the negative side of this resolution dispute the ability of an international court to preserve the standards of a fair trial that are guaranteed all Americans by the Constitution; without those protections, they argue, an international court could be a travesty of justice.

Aff Contention: National Courts Cannot Fairly Judge National Policy* Serbian war criminals were protected by their governments.* Bush administration gets a pass from the Obama administration.* Iraq (Post-Saddam) Wreaks Vengeance (not Justice) on Saddam. Aff Contention: US withdrawal from international tribunals is hypocritical* Nuremberg Trials judged German officials* Tokyo Trials judged Japanese officials* UN Tribunals judged Rwandan and Yugoslavian officials Neg Contention: Concept of Crimes Against Humanity is Hopelessly Vague Neg Contention: International Tribunals Subvert American Values

With a common value and criterion, we must then evaluate the contentions relevant to each side of the resolution.

Read [|this editorial]!