Joint Criminal Enterprise as a Pathway to Convicting Individuals for Genocide

This article discusses one of the most controversial yet importantmodes of liability in international criminal law: joint criminalenterprise (JCE). One such controversy is whether Third CategoryJCE can serve as a basis for genocide convictions. To answerthis question one needs to uncover the nature and origins ofJCE. It is submitted that convictions for genocide based uponthe application of Third Category JCE are justifiable. Thiscontention stems from the premise that JCE is a form of criminalparticipation to which principles of derivative liability apply.However, such an approach is only valid when JCE is strippedto its core and applied as a small-scale group crime, whichrequires proof of a direct link between co-perpetrators. Moreover,in the case of Third Category JCE, a participant should be convictedof participating in genocide, which would carry a lower sentencethan committing genocide as a participant in a First or SecondCategory JCE.