War Criminals

This chapter considers whether consequentialist-minded theories of punishment can justify punishing perpetrators of mass atrocities. It argues that standard consequentialist measures such as reformation, incapacitation, and specific deterrence are unlikely candidates for such a justification because they plausibly will not be effective ways to prevent future mass atrocities. The chapter also highlights that it is currently unclear whether the general deterrence of punishing perpetrators can justify such punishment. Lastly, however, the chapter then provides two alternative ways that consequentialists could attempt to justify punishing perpetrators of mass atrocities and argues that these approaches seem to have important advantages relative to the standard consequentialist approaches.