Prosecuting Rape and Other Forms of Sexual Violence as Acts of Torture Under § 2340

Details

Author(s):
  • Ryan M. McIlroy
Publish Date:
January, 2016
Format:
Report
Citation(s):
  • Ryan M. McIlroy, Prosecuting Rape and Other Forms of Sexual Violence as Acts of Torture Under § 2340, Stanford Law School: Law and Policy Lab (January 2016).
Related Organization(s):

Abstract

The United States Department of Justice has a number of international criminal law statutes at its disposal, including statutes penalizing the commission of torture, war crimes, genocide, and the use of child soldiers. The United States has no crimes against humanity statute, however, and rape is not listed as a punishable offense under any of the existing statutes. This group project generated a number of different outputs aimed at improving the ability of the United States to prosecute non-nationals accused of committing rape abroad. This particular paper developed theories for prosecuting acts of extraterritorial rape under existing authorities, with an emphasis on how to prove specific intent.