Legal Definitions - joint criminal enterprise

Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE) is a legal concept developed by international criminal tribunals to hold individuals accountable for serious international crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It is a way of establishing legal responsibility for members of a group who share a common plan or purpose to commit crimes, and where those crimes are actually carried out by one or more members of that group. A key aspect of JCE is that an individual can be held liable even if they did not physically participate in every single criminal act, as long as they were part of the shared criminal enterprise and the crimes were committed as part of, or were a foreseeable outcome of, that enterprise.

Here are some examples illustrating how Joint Criminal Enterprise might apply:

• Imagine a scenario where a high-ranking military general devises a strategy to forcibly displace a civilian population from a particular region. He issues orders to his subordinate commanders, provides resources, and oversees the operation from a central command post, knowing that his troops will likely use violence, destroy homes, and potentially commit killings to achieve the displacement. His soldiers then carry out these atrocities on the ground.

  How this illustrates JCE: The general, his direct subordinates who organized the units, and the soldiers who executed the plan could all be considered part of a Joint Criminal Enterprise. Even though the general did not personally harm any civilians or burn any homes, he could be held liable under JCE because he shared the common plan (forcible displacement leading to war crimes and crimes against humanity), and these crimes were perpetrated by the group he directed as part of that plan.

• Consider a group of senior government officials, including a minister and heads of security agencies, who meet and agree on a policy to systematically persecute a specific minority group within their country. This policy involves issuing directives for arbitrary arrests, detention in inhumane conditions, and confiscation of property. Police and prison authorities then implement these measures, leading to widespread suffering among the minority population.

  How this illustrates JCE: The senior officials, despite never personally arresting anyone or mistreating a detainee, could be held liable under JCE. They formed a common plan to persecute the minority group, and the crimes against humanity (persecution, arbitrary detention) were carried out by the state apparatus they controlled and directed as part of that enterprise. Their shared intent and the actual commission of crimes by the group make them responsible.