Law School to Host January 23 Lecture on Alternative Methods of Punishing Atrocity Crimes
Mark Drumbl, the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor and Director of the Transnational Law Institute at Washington and Lee University Law School, will deliver a lecture entitled "Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law" at William & Mary Law School on Wednesday, January 23, in Room 127 at 5 pm. Free and open to the public, the talk is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Human Rights and National Security Law Program.
Focusing in part on the United States' role in prosecuting terrorism and war crimes, Drumbl's lecture will explore alternative methods of punishing perpetrators of these crimes. "The international community's preference for prosecution and imprisonment may not be as effective as we hope," observes Drumbl. Instead, he urges "a broader-based response to atrocity that welcomes bottom-up perspectives, including restorative, reparative, and reintegrative traditions that may differ from the adversarial Western criminal trial and, ultimately, better serve interests of peace, security, and justice."
Drumbl holds a J.D. from the University of Toronto, an LL.M. and J.S.D. from Columbia University, and an M.A. from the Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris and McGill University. He clerked for Justice Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada, served as co-counsel for the Canadian Chief-of-Defense-Staff, and served as defense counsel in the Rwandan genocide trials. Drumble has taught international law in Pakistan, Italy, and Brazil, and has held visiting appointments on the law faculties of Oxford University (University College), Vanderbilt University, University of Ottawa, and Trinity College-Dublin.
An expert in the areas of public international law, international criminal law, transitional justice, and sentencing theory, Drumble received the 2007 Book of the Year Award from the International Association of Criminal Law for his book entitled Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2007). In 2005 his work received the AALS Scholarly Papers Prize, and in 2003 he was awarded the International Association of Penal Law Best Article Prize.
For more information, contact lawcom@wm.edu.