Introduction to the Project "Spandau, Sugamo, and Landsberg – The Origins of Sentence Enforcement in International Criminal Law"

• In Event: Atrocity Crimes: Spandau, Sugamo, and Landsberg – The Origins of Sentence Enforcement in International Criminal Law (ECACTJ)

Abstract

The project "Spandau, Sugamo, and Landsberg – The Origins of Sentence Enforcement in International Criminal Law, and their Relevance for the International Criminal Justice System of Tomorrow" examines in three individual studies the penal system of persons convicted of international crimes after the Second World War in Spandau Military Prison, Sugamo Prison in Tokyo and War Criminals Prison No. 1 in Landsberg from a legal and criminological perspective. These case studies close existing research gaps in contemporary history on the origin of international criminal law. From a systematic perspective, Spandau, Sugamo and Landsberg will also be understood as examples of a model of a centralized penal system for criminals under international law according to special rules and examined for their relevance for an alternative design of the penal system under international criminal law in the present and future. The presentation gives an overview of the research project, which is funded by the German Research Foundation. The speaker will provide information on the most important objectives, the central questions, the methodological approach and the three individual studies of the project. In this way, it prepares the audience for the subsequent lectures on two of these individual studies (on Spandau and Sugamo).

Author

• Florian Knauer, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany