War Crimes
War Crimes.Defined largely by international treaties, conventions, and tribunals, war crimes generally fall into one of three categories: crimes against peace; crimes against humanity; and conventional war crimes, which involve egregious violations of the customs and laws of war. They are based on the assumptions that aggressive war and certain actions by civilian officials or military personnel in war can be limited or at least punished.
War crimes differ from conventional military crimes, criminal violations of codes of military law, or military justice prosecuted by a country's military against violators in its own military service. Few countries have tried their own military personnel for war crimes (although armed services have tried their own members for violations which in other circumstances would be called war crimes).
Enemy soldiers and political leaders have long been punished with or without trial by the...
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