If the excuse of "I was just following orders" is not a defense for atrocites, what if said person is coerced?

Question

I know as demonstrated that in the Nuremberg Trials that the excuse of "I was just following orders" is no defense to war crimes or atrocities. I was wondering out of curiosity, what if the person doing the crimes was coerced into doing the crimes or was forced into doing it? For example: One is ordered by a superior to kill and loot innocents, the soldiers are threatened if they do not obey, the superiors will have them and their families killed as traitors, and some are killed as examples. Would they still be held responsible for their actions?

Answer 1

ALL soldiers are coerced. Military leaders do not say please or thank you. If a soldier doesn't follow orders, he can face the death penalty for treason.

Answer 2

No good military member would follow an unlawful order. Following orders is not an excuse for war crimes which was a defense used at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.

Answer 3

Yes, they would. And that is as it should be. There are ways to get around such intimidation. Watch Michael J. Fox in "Casualties of War". This film illustrates the exact same situation you brought up, a situation that will dog our heels as we work our way through the path of life.



"You are all behaving like the fact that we could die at any minute means that it doesn't matter what we do. I say the fact that we could die at any minute makes it matter that much more."

Answer 4

Their lawyers would have a better case.



But if things had disintegrated that badly, so that a military superior could even believably threaten that, I doubt there would be any trials at all.

Answer 5

Following orders actually is a good excuse. In many militaries, refusal to follow an order is imprisonment or Court Marshalls, which can lead to execution. Especially in situations like Nazi Germany.

Answer 6

It is not the same.. because there is an understanding of what they are doing is wrong.. yet they have no choice when their life or the lives of their family members are threatened.

Answer 7

Your rather "extreme" example is kind of a stretch..

Answer 8

The soldiers should turn on their superiors in such situation, or commit suicide.



Else, "yes" they would be liable.

Answer 9

oo