International criminal law has focused on the prosecution of truly international crimes — genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. Our post-Cold War, post-9/11 world has also seen the growth of transnational crimes of international concern, such as terrorism, money laundering, organized crime, and human and narcotics trafficking, as well as transnational crimes of domestic concern, which are simply ordinary domestic crimes that involve the jurisdiction of more than one state.

This book surveys these two related but increasingly distinct fields with a focus on Canada, bringing together in one accessible text topics that are of increasing importance in a world of globalized crime. The second edition updates caselaw from Canada as well as international courts and tribunals, transnational criminal law treaties, and recent literature, and adds a new chapter on extended liability, defences, and child soldiers. It reviews the new definition of the crime of aggression and some of Canada’s new criminal cooperation ventures.

Robert J. Currie is a professor at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where he teaches international and transnational criminal law, public international law, international advocacy, evidence, criminal law, civil procedure, and law and technology. He studied at both St Francis Xavier University and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and has degrees in law from Dalhousie and the University of Edinburgh. A member of the Nova Scotia Bar since 2000, Professor Currie has practiced both civil litigation and criminal law, and has appeared before all levels of court in Nova Scotia, as well as before the Federal Court.Professor Currie has authored, co-authored, or co-edited numerous books, articles, and comments in the area of international and transnational criminal law, and his work has been cited by Canadian courts. The first edition of this book, published in 2010, was short-listed for the Walter Owen Book Prize for Outstanding Canadian Legal Literature and has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and other Canadian courts. He acts as a consultant for both government and private clients and is often called upon to provide CLE and judicial education for the practising bar. He is a former president of the Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia, a member of the executive committee of the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL), and on the board of directors of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law (ISRCL). In 2008, Professor Currie was honoured with the Dalhousie Law Students’ Society and Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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Joseph Rikhof has received a BCL from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands; an LLB from McGill University; a Diploma in Air and Space Law from McGill University; and a PhD from the Irish Centre for Human Rights. He teaches international criminal law as an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa. He was senior counsel, Manager of the Law, with the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section of the Department of Justice, Canada. He was special counsel and a policy advisor to the Modern War Crimes Section of the Department of Citizenship & Immigration between 1998 and 2002, a visiting professional with the International Criminal Court in 2005, and served with the Department of Justice from 2002 until his retirement in 2017. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Philippe Kirsch Global Justice Journal, where he regularly posts short commentaries on recent developments in international criminal justice.His area of expertise is in law related to organized crime, terrorism, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, especially in the context of immigration and refugee law. He has published almost fifty articles, as well the books The Criminal Refugee: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers with a Criminal Background in International and Domestic Law (2012) and A Theory of Punishable Participation in Universal Crimes (with co-author Terje Einarsen, 2018), exploring these research interests, and has lectured on the same topics in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand.

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