Measuring, Understanding, and Predicting Trial Complexity at the ICTY

Abstract:     
There has been relatively little empirical work done to understand or measure the complexity of international criminal trials. This Article seeks to remedy that lacuna. It does four things: (1) it proposes a methodology for measuring the complexity of international criminal trials; (2) it measures the complexity of trials conducted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and then compares them to the complexity of trials conducted at other international courts and to trials conducted in US courts; (3) it proposes and then tests a model of what factors cause complexity in international trials; and (4) finally it predicts the complexity of the ICTY’s remaining cases. The principal conclusion is that the length and cost of the ICTY are driven by the seriousness of the charges and the immense complexity of the trials, rather than by any inherent inefficiency in the international model of adjudication.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28

Keywords: international criminal justice, international criminal law, ICTY, complexity, trials

JEL Classification: K33, K14, K41

working papers series