Bargain Justice? Perceptions of Procedural Justice at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich
Florida State University
John Hagan
Northwestern University
In 1993 the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by
an orchestrated effort of the United Nations (Security Council Resolution 827, 1993). It is a
politically and legally complex, large, and expensive international operation with an annual budget
of over $100 million and over 1,000 employees from 79 countries (ICTY, 2006). A direct
predecessor to the permanent International Criminal Court, this transnational, yet temporary
tribunal has indicted 161 persons, including one former head of state, for serious violations of
international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.
The Tribunal has concluded procedures against 94 defendants (ICTY, 2006).
The ICTY’s mission is fourfold: “to bring to justice persons allegedly responsible for
serious violations of international humanitarian law; to render justice to the victims; to deter
further crimes; [and] to contribute to the restoration of peace by holding accountable persons
responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law” (ICTY, 2006). After over a
decade of its existence and intense media coverage, with numerous trials and dozens of
convictions, how successful has the ICTY been in achieving one of its key tasks—bringing justice
to the victims? Do victims of the war crimes view the ICTY in a positive light? Do they think that
the ICTY is fair?
The war in the former Yugoslavia has created many thousands of victims directly affected
by war crimes. Very few of victims have an opportunity to directly participate in the ICTY’s
proceedings, but, with the help of the international community, they can watch the ICTY’s trials
on television or on the internet. In the present study, we use several perspectives on justice to
explore how victims of war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia view the
ICTY. Using four samples of victims from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia collected over a
period of eight years, we analyze how the victims view the ICTY’s trials and its decisions, and