universal jurisdiction

[Lawrence]

>>.
War Crimes
NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on the new trend toward "universal
jurisdiction," in which any country can try anybody for war crimes committed
anywhere. Prime Minister Sharon of Israel has put off plans to visit Belgium
because of a case in the works there that alleges Sharon allowed a massacre
of Palestinians 20 years ago. And several countries want to question former
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the US role in Chile 25 years
ago. Kissinger says he's not a criminal. (7:30)
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Didn't America actually start this trend back in the 1790s or early 1800s? I
remember in high school we were taught the case but I don't remember it well
now. Something about a British person who tortured captured American
sailors, and then decades later the same British guy was found living in
America, and one of the sailors wanted to prosecute him, though the crime
had happened in another country? And the Supreme Court said okay?