Reviewing the Punishment for Crime Against Humanity and War Crime

Abstract

The punishments for crime against humanity and war crime differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
The reasons for this phenomenal legal system also differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This
paper seeks to analyze the issue of this kind of structured penalties for crimes against humanity
and war crimes and advance the argument that penalties for crimes against humanity should be
more grave and drastic than war crimes. This is in contradistinction to the present position where
the penalties meted out for crime against humanity and war crimes are the same. A graphic
explanation may be needed here to make the foregoing point. Hypothetically, if Mr Toru-ebeni
kills four persons in the course of an armed conflict, the penalties he will be subjected to will be
the same even if Mr Toru-ebeni is convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity. One major
consequence of the existing proposition and permutation is that it plays down criminal intentions
and motives that naturally follow war crimes and crimes against humanity which are cardinal
ingredients and elements needed by the prosecution to successfully prosecute, for instance, the
crime of murder in many jurisdictions. One reason why the present approach is being used is that
there seems to be no generally accepted blueprint and guideline to determine different levels of
sentencing for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Even though the contextual elements of
the war crimes and crimes against humanity are largely interwoven and analogous, crimes against
humanity and war crime are not the same and should not carry the same minimum or maximum
penalties. This paper seeks to recommend that the international community needs to adopt an index
to increase the punishment for crimes against humanity more than war crimes. Crime against
humanity has a motivation with a heinous mind to commit homicide. This is usually followed by
loss of lives, massive injury, or property being destroyed. It is not in doubt that crime against
humanity is committed both during war and peace times.