The Victim's Address: Expressivism and the Victim at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

• Published in: The international journal of transitional justice Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 95 - 115
• Main Author: Elander, Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-03-2013
• Subjects: Cambodia; Community participation; Courts; Criminal Law; Ethics; Grief; International Criminal Court; International criminal law; Judicial process; Litigation; Outreach Programs; Participation; Representation; Social representations; Victim support; Victims
• ISSN: 1752-7716; 1752-7724
• DOI: 10.1093/ijtj/ijs028

This is an interrogation into what an international(ized) court can hold. Expressivism teaches us that by trying those responsible for mass losses, criminal courts send moral messages on the value of the rule of law that strengthen community attachments. In this performance of ritualized grief and condemnation, the court must hold the victim: the dead victim who remains in images inside and outside the court; the surviving victims whose desire to bear witness stands in tension with the constraints of the legal process in victim participation; and the communities whose victimization is the court's focus as they are engaged through outreach programs. In this article, I question whether expressivism is a viable rationale for international criminal law by examining victim appearance at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. I argue that expressivism relies on simplified representations of victimhood that do not adequately address victims. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press