Avoiding Belittlement of Human Suffering: A Retributivist Critique of ICTR Sentencing Practices

Abstract

The sentencing process of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is deficient. In seeking to distinguish between the gravity of each offender’s conduct and by failing to properly consider the sentencing practices of Rwanda’s domestic courts, the ICTR often inadvertently belittles the suffering caused by offences related to the 1994 genocide. This article addresses the ICTR’s relatively unfettered sentencing discretion and tendency to under-explain its methodology. It then carries out a retributivist critique of ICTR sentencing practices and explores expressivism as a means of addressing current retributive deficiencies. A more expansive use of cumulative sentencing involving a proportionate penalty for the harm caused to each victim, it is argued, would have both symbolic and practical consequences for the offender.