Nuremberg Charter Limits Crimes Definition

The Nuremberg Charter, drafted in 1945 for the Nuremberg Trials, defined "Crimes Against Humanity" as acts such as murder and persecution committed only in connection with a war of aggression. This wording meant prosecutors could only charge those crimes when they occurred during or around World War II, not as general peacetime atrocities. Legal scholars have noted that American officials supported this narrow definition partly because they were worried that racial segregation and related abuses under Jim Crow in the United States might otherwise fit a broader category of crimes against humanity.

Previous Fact Next Fact