Symbolic Justice: The Continued Limits of International Criminal Justice Without A Permanent Prison System

Authors

• Meg Penrose, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2025

Journal Title

University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law

ISSN

1938-0283

Abstract

Many people misremember Nuremberg, Tokyo, and the subsequent World War II tribunals. These seminal international tribunals gave the world convictions but largely failed to fully enforce the sentences imposed. Most people do not recall the mass clemency following the World War II tribunals. This Article seeks to fill a scholarly void by explaining why international criminal justice has never matured beyond Nuremberg and Tokyo. The modern ad hoc tribunals, as well as the permanent International Criminal Court (“ICC”), have failed to deliver lasting justice. Much like Nuremberg and Tokyo, the modern tribunals fixate on arrests and convictions and then seemingly close the books. From the statutes creating these tribunals to the systems tasked with enforcing their sentences, the modern approach to international criminal justice has ignored the most obvious shortcomings of the World War II tribunals: once you criminally convict someone and announce a sentence, you must enforce that sentence. The truth is that without a reliable sentence enforcement mechanism, criminal justice will never become law. If the international community wants to enforce its sparse criminal justice convictions, it must become serious about creating an international prison. This Article calls for the creation of an international prison.

First Page

367

Last Page

445

Num Pages

79

Volume Number

47

Issue Number

2

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Recommended Citation

Meg Penrose, Symbolic Justice: The Continued Limits of International Criminal Justice Without A Permanent Prison System, 47 U. Pa. J. Int'l L. 367 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/2351

File Type

PDF