International Criminal Justice: Philosophies and Approaches
This paper introduces the field of international criminal justice as a multidisciplinary social science that examines crimes and criminal justice responses from a global perspective. It outlines the major categories of international, transnational, conventional, and human rights-related crimes, and distinguishes the field from traditional social sciences through its incorporation of law, ethics, victimology, psychology, and history. The paper then evaluates three dominant research philosophies—positivism, interpretivism, and critical social research—and argues that critical research philosophy is most appropriate for international criminal justice scholars, given its emphasis on societal change, liberation of oppressed groups, and addressing systemic injustice on a global scale.
- Introduction to International Criminal Justice: Defines the field and its global scope
- Categories of International Crime: Taxonomy of international, transnational, and conventional crimes
- How International Criminal Justice Differs from Other Social Sciences: Distinctive disciplinary lenses: victimology, psychology, history
- Research Philosophies in Criminal Justice: Overview of positivism, interpretivism, and critical research
- The Case for Critical Research Philosophy: Argument for critical philosophy to address global injustice
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper builds logically from a broad definition of the field to specific crime categories, then to disciplinary distinctions, and finally to a recommended philosophical framework — each section prepares the reader for the next.
- It explicitly contrasts international criminal justice with existing social sciences, giving the reader a clear conceptual anchor for understanding what makes the field distinctive.
- The philosophical argument is grounded in the field's stated purpose (societal change), making the recommendation for critical research philosophy feel earned rather than arbitrary.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates disciplinary mapping — it situates a new or emerging field (international criminal justice) within an existing intellectual landscape by comparing and contrasting it with established social sciences and research philosophies. This technique is useful in introductory academic essays where the writer must both define a subject and justify a position about it.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a definition and scope of international criminal justice, moves through a taxonomy of crime types, then differentiates the field from conventional social sciences using specific disciplinary lenses (victimology, psychology, history). It concludes by surveying three research philosophies and arguing for critical social research as the most suitable approach. The structure is expository-argumentative: descriptive in the first half and evaluative in the second.
Introduction to International Criminal Justice
International criminal justice is a relatively new field in the criminal justice system, as it deals with issues that extend beyond the local or national level. This field examines crimes and criminal justice responses from an international or global perspective. Incorporating a global lens makes the discipline both multidisciplinary in nature and relatively complex. In essence, international criminal justice can be described as a discipline that examines crimes and criminal justice responses from a global perspective (Kiriakova & Gross, 2005). Additionally, the field focuses on how the international community and individual states react to atrocious crimes such as war crimes, human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Categories of International Crime
Several distinct categories of crime fall within the scope of international criminal justice. International crimes include terrorism, forcible transfer of populations, and torture. Transnational crimes include money laundering and theft of intellectual property. Conventional crimes encompass criminal homicide, burglary, and forcible rape. Finally, human rights issues include the abuse or mistreatment of women and children, as well as the torture of civilians. Together, these categories illustrate the breadth of concerns that international criminal justice must address.
References
Boas, G. J. (2012). What is international criminal justice? SSRN.
Henn, M., Weinstein, M., & Foard, N. (2009). Critical social research. In A critical introduction to social research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Kiriakova, M., & Gross, J. (2005). International criminal justice: A research guide. Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Weber, R. (2004). Editor's comments: The rhetoric of positivism versus interpretivism: A personal view. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 28(1), iii–xii.
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