Preview

What Influence Have The Nuremberg Trials Had On International Criminal Law?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
336 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Influence Have The Nuremberg Trials Had On International Criminal Law?
The Nuremberg trials established that all people would be guarded by an international shield of justice and that even a President or Prime Minister would be held criminally responsible and punished for any crimes against humanity. But What Influence have the Nuremberg Trials had on International Criminal Law? The Nuremberg Principles and the idea of crimes against humanity not only affected the foundation of International War Crimes Tribunals, but its impact triggered numerous effects beyond creating a term to be used in military tribunals and for political purposes. According to the U.S. Department of state, almost 170 million civilians have been subjected to war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity over the last 100 years. The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    * Reason for trials: seen as important to make the Germans realise the scale of destruction that had occurred, the atrocities committed by the Germans were part of official government policy, the idea that if it was shown that this behaviour would not go unpunished then such evil would not be repeated and the hope that International Justice would be a good sign for the future of the United…

    • 3933 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been many examples throughout history of people imposing their beliefs on one another. Some of the more prominent, were even persecuted for spreading their ideas to others. A few of the well-known cases for this “crime” are that of Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc and the Nuremberg Trials. However, one strange thing about these cases is that they did not always have the same outcome for the “criminal”. In Jesus and Joan’s situation they are both considered heroes, and are sacred for the work they did spreading their beliefs. However, in the case of the Nuremberg Trials, the German soldiers are accused of horrendous war crimes committed during World War II. Yet these actions were, just like that of Jesus and Joan, all in the name of their personal beliefs. So why is it that Jesus and Joan are viewed differently than the German soldiers? I…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Groups got driven out of Cambodia by the Viet Cong. The economy completely collapsed and since all the intellectual people were killed in Genocide it took a while to come back. It is estimated that 25% of population was killed in the genocide, right around 2,000,000 people. In the holocaust, over 6,000,000 Jews, Slavs, Communists, Disabled, and Gypsies were killed. The UN was formed to help keep these disasters from happening again, although these events have occurred since, including Cambodian Genocide. Also, after the war was over for a couple of years, Israel was formed, so the Jewish people had and still have a place to live. As you can see the effects of the genocide are much different, a much higher percentage of people in Cambodia were killed, Holocaust victims were given new land, and Germany’s economy did not collapse afterward. The holocaust also differs from the Cambodian Genocide, because it still affects us today and is remembered more. Indirectly caused by the holocaust, we still see Middle Eastern conflicts over the country of Israel. Also, in the holocaust, and the Nuremberg trials, Nazi officials were actually convicted, Cambodian leaders were not (Only 1) in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Here is a quote that talks more about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal; “The government, meanwhile, made plans for a tribunal to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Since the end of the World Wars, international criminal tribunals have had a growing role in the prosecution of international crime. In November 1945 the allied powers got together and showed procedural fairness against the Nazi officials. For crimes against humanity, this was the first time this occurred on a global scale. In the…

    • 538 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The trials and stories surrounding pirates in the 1810s can be compared to those of which that surround Gilles de Rais because of the structure of the trial and subsequent punishment, the mainstream ideals of the time, and the conflict of religion versus the state. The issues that come about in law trials did not change over time because these factors always complicate the trial process.…

    • 1747 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Ira Levin’s The Boys from Brazil, Nazi war criminals who have escaped justice are the cause of more death and destruction in world 30 years after the end of World War II. This is just one of many possible scenarios of what could happen if war criminals were not punished for their crimes. Men capable of such evil have no right to be loose in the world. War crimes have been a problem in the world as long as war itself, despite the term not being coined until the 20th century. There are various types of war crimes, some more severe than others. The severity of the crime committed should also determine the severity of the punishment. Those who deliberately ignore the justice system to the extreme of committing war crimes should be held to the…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Every case of genocide and mass murder has its own story and anotherness, they also didn’t happen in the blink of an eye. The perpetrators of these events have always had a fundamental reason to what led them to execute such gruesome crimes. Most may know, the German holocaust and the Rwandan genocide are the two most known and most terrible violation of human rights because of the amount of people that were killed and the way in which these murders were performed. This essay is a discussion of key similarities and differences of the roles of perpetrators in the two case studies; Rwandan genocide and the German…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of the 185 defendants of the Nuremberg Trials, 12 received a death sentence, 8 received life prison, and 77 received prison terms varying in numbers. Some had committed suicide before they could be executed. These executions caused the United Nations to create certain documents trying to keep world peace. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created. Following World War II, the Nuremberg Trials impacted the world then and in the future in many ways. To begin, the Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials prosecuting and questioning Nazi war criminals. Next, the results of the trials were 7 more trials held for less important Nazi war criminals. Lastly, there were many Nazi war criminals still to be found.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amidst the various horrors of World War II, none was more devastating then the mass murder and forced labour of Jewish people and other targeted groups by Nazi Germany, in a genocide most often called the Holocaust. In it, more than 11 million lives were claimed, ultimately leading to one of the most devastating war crimes and genocides in the entirety of history. The horrors of the Holocaust and World War 2 in general still greatly impact society today, from Neo-Nazi groups around the world to international relations and to modern culture, as it changed the course of world history.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nazi Medical Experiments

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages

    References: "Nuremberg Trials” (n.d.). Retrieved from Nuremberg Trials - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web site: http://…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Twelve trials, involving more than a hundred defendants and several different courts, took place in Nuremberg. By far the most attention has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of 21 major war…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Nuremberg Trials were a series of war trials against the Nazis for their crimes committed during the war. In reference to the article provided, only twenty-two war criminals were tried, to begin with, and after only fifteen were given serious punishments on the count of their respective charges, twelve given the death sentence, and three lifelong sentences in prison. The other seven were either acquitted or given ten to twenty years in prison. The results and the consequences of these trials do not nearly equate to the six million deaths of Jews and other victims in the Holocaust. Although these trials showed the power of obeying judicial laws in worldly events, hundreds of thousands of perpetrators got away with crimes, and this in no way fully shows justification for the Jewish…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1933, less than 1% of the German population was Jewish. Jews contributed significantly to German culture. Many served in World War I and thought of themselves as Germans first and Jews second. They considered Germany a home; their passionate ties and the blind loyalty to Germany caused them to be blind to the harsh reality of anti-Semitic measures. The Nuremberg Laws were the first attempt by the Nazi government to define the Jews and as such. The first law, The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, prohibited marriages and extra-marital intercourse between “Jews” (the name was now officially used in place of “non-Aryans”) and “Germans” and also the employment of “German” females under forty-five in Jewish households.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Nuremberg Trials

    • 2211 Words
    • 9 Pages

    More than half a century has passed since the end of World War Two and to this day it is still difficult to fully understand the severity of what was by far the most destructive war in human history. More than sixty million people were killed during World War Two and more than half of those were innocent town’s people. Among the dead were over six million Jews, which was two thirds of the total living race in Europe at the time. Beyond these general statistics were thousands of stories of crimes committed against soldiers and civilians. These crimes against humanity included cases of prisoners of war being murdered, sent to concentration camps and abuse as well as harmless civilians being rounded up and “exterminated” in death camps. At the end of the war, the Allies (USA, France, Britain, and Russia) felt that the Germans had to be held accountable for their inhumane actions and felt justified to punish the Nazis in an international court of law. On November twentieth, 1945 the Nuremberg trials began where twenty one of the top Nazi leaders where being prosecuted for their crimes during the war. All of the Nazi defendants were considered innocent until proven guilty and were allowed to defend themselves against the charges. Some of the defendants such as Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel and Hans Frank used the defence that they were just following orders. Other defendants like Karl Doenitz and Albert Speer admitted their actions were wrong. Herman Goering believed his actions were for the greater good of Germany. After researching and gaining the knowledge of the Nuremberg Trials I believe that all six of these Nazi leaders are guilty and I think the judges decided on appropriate sentences for each of the accused. All six of these men helped lead the Germans to commit some of the most brutal crimes the world has ever seen and each of them had to face the consequences of their actions.…

    • 2211 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nuremberg Trials

    • 2619 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Twenty-four major political and military leaders of Nazi Germany, indicted for aggressive war, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Of the twenty-four twenty-one were taken into custody and put on trial; these were known as the Nuremberg Trials. These trials started on November 20th 1945 and were the first ever war crime tribunal. The Trials were held by the Allied forces of World War II and were held in the city of Nuremberg in Bavaria Germany out of the Palace of Justice. Accusations placed against them were for their involvement in the Nazi Party during World War II. Nazi officials were judged unfairly during the Nuremburg Trails for a continent wide genocide that occurred within WWII and the world watched as Nazi officials got what they deserved.…

    • 2619 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays