The historical aim of tribunals is an integrated, universal policy that will diffuse to local assimilation through continued and standard usage. A practical division of labor accompanied by a reasonable balance between punitive and reconciliatory measures will bring about this assimilation in order to effectively establish a reasonable standard moral code.
The degree of penetration that the normative yardstick of acceptable behavior achieves in the domestic consciousness is unclear. Customary international law that is enforced through moral obligation and reciprocation may not be fully integrated with ordinary domestic law which, while familiar to local elites, may lack the complexity of the high-development of jus gentium. A purely international system may neglect ordinary law and a purely domestic system may have little impact on the criminalization of atrocities.
War crimes tribunals seek reconstruction of the international capacity of states and the reconciliation of its peoples. Challenges of legitimacy and intent are still prevalent regardless of the system. Reconciliation should use all available tools, just as those holistic policies used in establishing a multinational conflict management policy do. Networks of common and ordinary law, as well as various jurisprudential critics and advisors, lead to a conglomeration of norms.