Criminal law comparison as the driving force in criminal law development

Under the guidance of Ulrich Sieber, the new director of the criminal research group, the academic researchers of the Freiburg Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law compiled a report commissioned by the UN Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The criminal law/criminological report comprises a comparative law study of the relevant laws of the 23 legal systems applicable to particularly serious crimes such as murder, torture and rape and the sanctions imposed by judges in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in relation to such crimes. The report supports the ICTY on the fixation of fair punishments and advocates the avoidance of divergence between the punishments of the ICTY and the relevant national courts. It further establishes the basis for future studies by the Institute on sentencing.