Lauterpacht prompted Shawcross to preempt the arguments of the defendants, the prospect that they’d assert that because states couldn’t commit crimes under international law, it followed that the individuals who served them also couldn’t be guilty of crimes. A state could be criminal, Shawcross told the tribunal, and so it was imperative to repress its crimes by means “more drastic and more effective than in the case of individuals.” Individuals who acted on behalf of such a state were “directly responsible” and should have punishments heaped upon them.
