LW3ICL: Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law and Justice

Module code: LW3ICL

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: 6

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Benjamin Thorne , email: b.thorne@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Kathryn Barber, email: im932212@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law and Justice has two directly overlapping approaches. It teaches the core crimes and introduces procedural elements of international criminal law. While doing so, it presents critical approaches to thinking about international criminal law and the core claims this body of law makes about responses to atrocity (e.g. war crime, genocide, dictatorships), such as those relating to accountability, justice, and truth. The module’s starting point is that international criminal law, and its hopes and claims, are inherently bound up within power and politics. From this starting point, and by taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will 1) explore theories and practices of international criminal law and justice and, 2) help you to develop your ability to critically assess the potential and limitations of international criminal law and justice.

The module engages with key procedures and institutions, the numerous actors involved with these, such as, legal counsel, States, victim support and representation groups, and NGOs, and key current critical debates about responses to atrocity. These include the role of survivors and victims, digital evidence, and accountability. In taking a critical approach to international criminal law and its responses to atrocity, the module also directly engages with concepts and themes which go beyond international criminal law but are part of the wider atrocity response landscape, including the role and effectiveness of hybrid courts, truth and reconciliation commissions, local/indigenous justice mechanisms, and non-judicial processes. Students will critically consider how international criminal law operates; the opportunities for this body of law to be a collaborative piece of a larger post-atrocity ‘jigsaw’; and the many tensions which exist in the aftermath of atrocity.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of core crimes, procedures, and institutions of international criminal law and justice gained through lectures, tutorials and independent reading.
2. Demonstrate the skills to critically assess key cases and responses to atrocity, the processes involved and their competing priorities.
3. Debate the relative merits and limitations of international criminal law and justice.
4. Critically assess the role and effectiveness of procedures, institutions and actors involved in international criminal law in relation to accountability, justice and truth.

Module content

The module will cover topics such as:

• The Common narrative of ICL as a response to atrocity
• Critiques of ICL’s common narrative
• Genocide – Legal codification and other definitions
• Investigations, digital evidence, and witnesses
• Victims in ICL
• Defence and sentencing
• The abolition movement for ICL
• National and hybrid courts
• Beyond ICL as a response to atrocity

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught by 22 hours of lectures, 10 hours of tutorials and 8 hours of self-study.

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Optional non-assessed presentation and written executive summary (2 pages). Non-assessed presentation will take place during tutorials.

Reassessment

Additional costs