Goldstone, Richard (1938-…), was a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2003. In 1991, South African President F. W. de Klerk invited Goldstone to head a commission of inquiry into public violence and intimidation. His investigations looked into many incidents of mass violence, including murders, beatings, and destruction of property, that were common in South African townships. Goldstone’s commission made a series of reports which won national and international acclaim for their fairness and honesty.
From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the first chief prosecutor of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed during the 1990’s in civil conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. The United Nations (UN) established the tribunals to try people accused of committing war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity during these conflicts.
Goldstone was born on Oct. 26, 1938, in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, in South Africa. He graduated in law from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1962 and became an advocate (a lawyer who can argue cases in any court) in Johannesburg the following year. In 1976, he was appointed a senior counsel, and in 1980, he became a judge of the Transvaal Supreme Court. Goldstone was appointed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1989. He became a justice of the Constitutional Court when that court was created in 1994.
