Elements of Genocide provides an authoritative evaluation of the current perception of the crime, as it appears in the decisions of judicial authorities, the writings of the foremost academic experts in the field, and in the texts of Commission Reports. Genocide constitutes one of the most significant problems in contemporary international law. Within the last fifteen years, the world has witnessed genocidal conduct in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the debate on the commission of genocide in Darfur and the DR Congo is ongoing. Within the same period, the prosecution of suspected génocidaires has taken place in international tribunals, internationalised tribunals and domestic courts; and the names of Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Saddam Hussein feature among those against whom charges of genocide were brought. Pursuing an interdisciplinary examination of the existing case law on genocide in international and domestic courts, Elements of Genocide comprehensive and accessible reflection on the crime of genocide, and its inherent complexities.

Paul Behrens is Lecturer in Law at the University of Edinburgh. He is associate of the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and member of the Surrey International Law Centre. Ralph Henham is Professor of Criminal Justice at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University. He has researched and published extensively on the theoretical, comparative and policy-related aspects of sentencing and held visiting positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Sydney and the European University Institute, Florence.