The implementation of international criminal law into domestic legislations raises various difficult questions. One issue that is occasionally considered as a mere afterthought, but is of central importance to the defendant, concerns sanctions and sentencing. In the following, I will focus on two questions: does the specific character of crimes under international law warrant a fundamentally different regime of sanctions and sentencing?; and are there particular issues that should be considered by a domestic legislator when determining the applicable penalties and sentencing ranges for crimes under international law?
In order to give some tentative answers to these questions, I will first provide a cursory overview of the sentencing framework of the Rome Statute, and then discuss the challenges in providing a domestic framework for sanctions and sentencing for international crimes.