ABSTRACT
The courtroom and prison have emerged ideationally as iconic places in and through which to deliver justice in the aftermath of atrocity. This means that when it comes to accountability for massive human rights abuses, certain perpetrators become defendants and, if found guilty, then become convicts. This chapter unpacks two themes. First, how do the representational practices of the criminal trial constrict the agency, conduct, and actions of the perpetrator? This chapter posits that the adversarial hydraulics of the criminal law distort the agency of the perpetrator. The prosecutorial impulse exaggerates the individual responsibility exercised by many perpetrators, while the defense tends to artificially minimize perpetrator agency to increase the likelihood of an acquittal. This chapter takes up the trial of Issa Sesay (a senior leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone) as a case study of these (dis)torsions. Second, this chapter examines how and why international institutions punish defendants who are found guilty. Questions emerge as to whether the sentencing rationales of international criminal law (primarily retribution and deterrence) are attainable in the context of mass atrocity.
