David M. Crane, J.D., former chief prosecutor for the Special Court in Sierra Leone, will present a lecture titled, “I’ll Be Back: Charles Taylor, Terrorists, Warlords and Thugs: International Criminal Law in the 21st Century,” at 10 a.m. Nov. 14 in Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 404.
“The problems of Africa are the world’s problems,” said Karen Tokarz, J.D., professor of law and director of the Clinical Education Program’s Africa Public Interest Law Project. “And, our law school faculty and students have an increasing interest in working to address those problems.”
During his United Nations appointment in Sierra Leone, Crane prosecuted those responsible for war crimes and human rights violations committed during the country’s brutal 10-year civil war in the ’90s. He is the first American since the 1945 Nuremberg Trials to be the chief prosecutor of an international war crimes tribunal.
Crane is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Syracuse University.
Prior to his appointment as the chief prosecutor in Sierra Leone, Crane served more than 30 years in the U.S. government. He has received several prestigious awards including the Intelligence Community Gold Seal Medallion, the Department of Defense/DoD Inspector General Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.
The lecture, co-sponsored by the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies and the Clinical Education Program’s Africa Public Interest Law Project at the WUSTL School of Law, is free and open to the public.
In addition to his talk, Crane will attend classes and meet with faculty and students. He will also teach a course on “Atrocity Law and Policy” in the School of Law’s 2006 Institute for Global Justice, a summer school program in Utrecht, the Netherlands, directed by Leila Sadat, J.D., the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law.
For more information, call 935-4630.