International criminal justice is, at its core, an anti-atrocity project. Yet just what an 'atrocity' is remains undefined and undertheorized. This book examines how associations between atrocity commission and the production of horrific spectacles shape the processes through which international crimes are identified and conceptualized, leading to the foregrounding of certain forms of mass violence and the backgrounding or complete invisibilization of others. In doing so, it identifies various, seemingly banal ways through which international crimes may be committed and demonstrates how the criminality of such forms of violence and abuse tends to be obfuscated. This book suggests that the failure to address these 'invisible atrocities' represents a major flaw in the current international criminal justice system, one that produces a host of problematic repercussions and undermines the legal legitimacy of international criminal law itself.

This book assesses the role aesthetic factors play in shaping what forms of mass violence are viewed as international crimes.

About the Author
Dr Randle C. DeFalco is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Dr DeFalco has received Fulbright, Vanier, and Banting fellowships, and won the University of Toronto Faculty of Law's 2017 Alan Marks Most Outstanding Thesis Medal.


Book Information
ISBN 9781108487412
Author Randle C. DeFalco
Format Hardback
Page Count 302
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 596g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 22mm