The doctrine of command responsibility and the International Criminal Court : development, regression or compromise?

When should a commander be held responsible for the crimes of those under his control? Must a commander have known, or is it enough that he should have known, that his subordinates had committed or were about to commit a crime before we impose criminal responsibility on him for failing to prevent or punish those crimes? In attempting to answer these questions, the very foundations of criminal responsibility are set out and form the normative framework within which our examination of the command responsibility doctrine is undertaken. The historical evolution and modern-day application of the command responsibility doctrine are also set out and draws upon two themes; whether there is any justification for the distinction between the responsibility of military and civilian commanders and which mens rea standard should be adopted for the doctrine of command responsibility