Justice Without Politics: Prosecutorial Discretion and the International Criminal Court

Abstract

This article asserts that the current debate over prosecutorial authority, focused on problems of legality and accountability, offers a limited and ultimately unsatisfying perspective on the problems of international criminal justice. Greenwalt seeks to remedy that deficit in two ways. First, he provides a fuller more considered account than currently exists in the literature of why prosecutorial discretion is such a troubling challenge for the ICC. Second, he asserts that a deeper understanding of the prosecutorial function and its relationship to the ICC’s broader mission suggests that internal prosecutorial policy can—and most likely will—moderate the problem.