Complexity and Efficiency at International Criminal Courts

Authors

Stuart Ford

Abstract

The most persistent criticisms of international criminal tribunals are that they cost too much and take too long. Stuart Ford presents a new assessment utilizing complexity and efficiency. Ford's work reveals that even the least complex trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is more complex than the average criminal trial in the United States, and that the trials completed by the ICTY thus far are the most complex set of related criminal cases to have ever been tried by any court. These conclusions highlight why it is misleading to compare the cost and length of the ICTY's trials to other trials, both domestic and international, without first accounting for their complexity. Per efficiency, Ford concludes that the ICTY's trials have proven more efficient than cases of comparable gravity and complexity tried in domestic courts or at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Recommended Citation

Stuart Ford, Complexity and Efficiency at International Criminal Courts, 29 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 1 (2014).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol29/iss1/2