David M. Crane

JAMESTOWN — The Robert H. Jackson Center, a non-profit dedicated to promoting liberty under law through the examination of the life and work of Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson and his legacy’s relevance to current events and issues welcomes Jackson Center board member David M. Crane to speak on Monday, April 2 at 12 p.m. at the Robert H. Jackson Center, 305 East 4th St., Jamestown. The program is free and open to the public.

Crane will discuss, “The Founders: Four Pioneering Individuals Who Launched the First Modern-Era International Criminal Tribunals,” which details the creation of the four tribunals with the purpose of bringing to justice the perpetrators of atrocities in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Sierra Leone. The book contains first-hand accounts of the challenges, obstacles, and successes of each prosecutor. Crane co-edited the book with Professor Leila N. Sadat, Washington University School of Law, and Dean Michael P. Scharf, Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The book includes a chapter, contributed by Dean Scharf, entitled “The Cornerstone: Robert H. Jackson and the Nuremberg Tribunal.”

As the first American to be appointed as a chief prosecutor in an international war crimes tribunal since Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg Trial (1945), Crane was the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2002 to 2005. Appointed by Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, Crane served with the rank of Under-Secretary General when he indicted the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. Taylor’s conviction marked the first time a sitting head of state was held accountable for war crimes. Crane served over 30 years in the U.S. government as a Senior Executive Service appointee of the United States. He is a member of the faculty of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, a joint venture with the Maxwell School of Public Citizenship, at Syracuse University. Crane is also Director of the Syrian Accountability Project (SAP), an internationally recognized cooperative effort among activists, non-governmental organizations, students, and other interested parties, to document war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the Syrian crisis.

The Robert H. Jackson Center is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that envisions a global society where the universal principles of equality, fairness and justice prevail. The Center invites and engages students of all ages, scholars, educators, national officials and international dignitaries to analyze contemporary issues of peace and justice through the lens of Justice Jackson’s body of work.