Resumen de Punishment and policy in international criminal sentencing: an empirical study

Joseph W. Doherty, Richard H. Steinberg

• Through doctrinal and statistical analysis of ICTY and ICTR sentencing judgments, we find that the gravity of the crime and aggravating factors declared by the Tribunals as sentencing factors are significantly related to sentence length but that the mitigating factors proclaimed by the Tribunals—all but one of which are associated with diplomatic and policy objectives—are not significantly related to the term of imprisonment. We conclude that Tribunal sentences prioritize punishment of the individual over other diplomatic and policy goals.