Fairness and the Goals of International Criminal Trials Finding a Balance, written by Caleb Wheeler

Caleb Wheeler's book, Fairness and the Goals of International Criminal Trials, is an insightful read that walks his readers through some fundamental considerations about international criminal proceedings and what they can do.This is his second book.His first was The Right to Be Present at Trial in International Criminal Law, proving that Wheeler has a longstanding interest and expertise in this subject matter.1He publishes regularly in this field and engages in the lively discussions on current developments in The Hague, and much of his work is on the International Criminal Court (icc).This second book provided an opportunity to zoom out and consider what international trials can achieve, and analysing why some of their goals are hard to achieve.The main argument of the book is a simple, yet powerful and convincing one-that one principle should be used across all different goals of international criminal trials, to guide action in and around international institutions and within proceedings, when these goals work against each other.That principle is fairness.For the purposes of this book, fairness 'in the context of a criminal trial, should be understood as the principle that trials must be conducted in a way that ensures that justice is properly administered' (p. 6).That is a reasonable approach, even though we could debate what 'justice' or 'properly' means endlessly, depending on individual contexts.While he recognises these kinds of complexities, Wheeler never allows himself to look away from concrete, worldly challenges.Across the book, he links fairness to both legitimacy and effectiveness, and he emphasises that this fairness applies to all parties and participants in a trial.