Command Criminal Responsibility: A Plea for a Workable Standard

摘要

Professional conduct on the battlefield is the heart of military professionalism. The need for appropriate articulation of expected battlefield conduct is the theme of this project. The unresolved issues and nonexistence of inarticulateness of the current standards are explored using as a medium the Medina case which arose from the tragic My Lai incident. Current standards are compared with standards found in the new proposed Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. Prior to examining these standards, command criminal responsibility is defined, reasons for its examination are explored, and the timeliness of its debate is discussed. The objective of this essay is to examine its international and domestic aspects of command criminal responsibility in an effort to facilitate understanding and intelligent dialogue between commanders and lawyers. (Author)