Plea Bargaining at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) increasingly has turned to plea bargains to resolve the cases before it. A number of factors motor this trend. One is administrative: the ICTY has been subject to considerable pressure from the United Nations Security Council and donor states to accelerate its work. Another is the desire to obtain acknowledgements of responsibility from perpetrators. Moreover, there is concern that, as time passes, the memories of witnesses dim. The rigours of direct and cross-examination may retraumatise those who have survived mass atrocity. ICTY judges also have expressed their understanding that guilty pleas promote reconciliation in areas afflicted by violence and the rehabilitation of offenders. Plea bargaining also may serve important political purposes for the ICTY with regard to its relationships with peacekeepers and administrators throughout the territory of the former Yugoslavia.