The year 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. Although initially carried into existence on a wave of humanitarian enthusiasm, the ICC has been highly controversial more or less from the beginning. One of the key battlegrounds in this longstanding dispute over the Court\u2019s legitimacy has been the issue of deterrence. The conjecture that a properly structured and functioning ICC would be able to deter mass atrocities has always figured prominently among the Court\u2019s proponents. For almost as long, however, these claims have been vehemently countered by critics arguing that the notion of deterrence in international criminal justice is as unsubstantiated as it is na\u00efve.<\/p>\n