Judgment in Absentia in International Criminal Law

The development of transnational and international justice initiatives and fora, including the European Arrest Warrant, the International Criminal Court, and a number of international tribunals, has fostered debate on the applicability of past legal protections to new areas. One example of this trend is the varied international approach to judgment in absentia, a legal procedure that different jurisdictions have traditionally handled in a variety of ways. Judgment in absentia can be defined as any judgment in criminal proceedings rendered by a court after hearings in which the sentenced individual is not present. This definition excludes judgments in proceedings where the accused was served with a writ of summons, with ample time to appear and defend himself, but made a deliberate decision not to appear or be represented. (This definition, drawn from the 2001 proposal for a European Council Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between the Member States, can easily be adapted to any domestic or international court.) The legal antonym of judgment in absentia is the compulsory presence of the accused at every proceeding, and the means to compel such presence ? [more]