Readings: Kevin Jon Heller Watches "Crossing Lines" for Its Imaginary International Criminal Law
"Crossing Lines" is a new NBC cop series this season that features ... well, here's the plot description at Wikipedia:
Based in The Hague, a fictionalized version of the International Criminal Court's special crime unit (itself a fictional agency) investigates serialised crimes that cross the borders of Europe.
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"Crossing Lines" is a new NBC cop series this season that features ... well, here's the plot description at Wikipedia:
Based in The Hague, a fictionalized version of the International Criminal Court's special crime unit (itself a fictional agency) investigates serialised crimes that cross the borders of Europe. The unit includes an anti-mafia covert specialist from Italy, a tech specialist from Germany, a crime analyst from France, and a weapons specialist and tactical expert from Northern Ireland. Originally told that his skills are needed to stop a serial killer, [former NYC police officer] Hickman agrees to join the ICC's special crime unit.Special crime unit at the International Criminal Court? Investigating all manner of cross border crimes? Before readers start thumbing through the Rome Statute looking for the section they somehow missed titled "Black Helicopters," be aware that Kevin Jon Heller has got the rest of us covered. Over at Opinio Juris, Kevin (an expert in international criminal law who also spent several years writing TV in Hollywood) is watching the show week by week and noting each episode's disconnect from the actual work and jurisdiction of the ICC. Kevin is watching so the rest of us don't have to ... though he reports that, minus the international criminal lawyer hat, the latest episode of this French TV production in English is quite entertaining. (And our congratulations to Kevin on his appointment as Professor of Criminal Law at SOAS in London.)
Kenneth Anderson is a professor at Washington College of Law, American University; a visiting fellow of the Hoover Institution; and a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He writes on international law, the laws of war, weapons and technology, and national security; his most recent book, with Benjamin Wittes, is "Speaking the Law: The Obama Administration's Addresses on National Security Law."
