Criminal Law Philosophy in William Schabas’s Scholarship

This chapter examines the deontological and consequentialist strains in William Schabas’s scholarship in an effort to illuminate the role that criminal law philosophy plays in much of the international criminal law scholarship. The first section analyses Schabas’s writings on the question of what crimes should be considered international. Schabas’s answer to this question rests heavily on his concern that crimes committed pursuant to a state plan or policy will likely go unpunished if they are not prosecuted at international courts—a consequentialist approach. The second section of the chapter addresses Schabas’s views on which cases international courts should prosecute from among the many cases within their jurisdictions. Schabas approaches this question from a decidedly deontological perspective. This mix of consequentialist and deontological thinking is typical of international criminal law scholarship.