Judicial Reform and Access to Justice: The Impact of Criminal Justice Reforms on Transitional Justice Efforts in Latin America

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Michel
Author(s):  
Tatyana Ryabinina

The article deals with current and controversial issue in the criminal science, specifically the need for the Russian criminal justice process to have an institute to return a criminal case to the procurator at the stage of appointment and preparation of the court hearing. The author emphasizes that during the continuance of RSFSR Code of Criminal Procedure, a special emphasis was put on it as a guarantee of the delivery of justice and the rights of the participants in the proceedings, that put in place the arrangements necessary for an effective court trial. The goal of modern judicial reform is to establish an independent judiciary whose main function is the delivery of justice which can be implemented in criminal proceedings only in adversary criminal proceedings. Since the beginning of its implementation, attitudes towards the institution of returning a criminal case by a court to a procurator to correct lacunae, loopholes, contradictions, irregularities or flaws in pre-trial proceedings have changed dramatically. It is perceived as an attribute of the courts prosecutorial activities, which is inconsistent with its new role as an independent body to resolve legal disputes between a state and an individual awaiting for a founded and equitable decision from the court. Despite critical rhetoric towards the institution of returning the criminal case to the prosecutor, the author argues that it is necessary due to specific status of the first judicial phase in a staged system of Russian criminal justice process. This institute creates conditions for monitoring and verification activities of judges at this stage, and the corresponding authority of judges to determine the future course of criminal cases brought before the courts. However, the author concludes that the task of rectifying the shortcomings of the prosecution can be addressed at the preliminary hearing introduced by the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation to resolve various contentious issues. When it is impossible to remove the obstacles that prevent the court from conducting a trial, the judge may, taking into account the views of the parties, decide to return the case to the prosecutor.


2014 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 486-510
Author(s):  
Paul Willey

The swingeing cuts to criminal legal aid may do irreparable damage to the defence side of the equality of arms. Coupled with this, the case of R v Jones gives the judge discretion to try in the defendant’s absence without representation or being present as a litigant-in-person. It is arguable that the defendant’s right to be heard will be chipped away at until the defence side is left legally crippled. The enactment of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is insular and neglects the defendant’s rights systemically. Without an adequate defence, squalid injustice will permeate and reverberate throughout the criminal justice system. Defendants cannot be corralled into court without the assistance of an advocate. The impact of the cuts falls on the litigant-in-person, thereby delimiting access to justice. Thus it disallows the opportunity to raise a proper defence. The sequela of the attack against the defence is a retreat back to the pre-1690s when defendants had very limited chances of being represented. Expense should not quell the right to be heard. Will the 2012 Act administer the coup de grace to the right to be heard or will Magna Carta be a heaven-sent ancient bulwark against this threat?


Author(s):  
James C Franklin

Abstract This research examines the impact of human rights protests on human rights abuses in seven Latin American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. I find that protests focused broadly on human rights are associated with significant declines in human rights abuses, controlling for important factors from previous studies. Furthermore, I argue that it is important to distinguish political repression (abuses that target political activists) from coercive state oppression, which has nonpolitical targets. These two types of abuses respond to different factors, but broadly focused human rights protests are found to decrease both types of abuses. I argue further that a strong human rights movement, indicated by frequent human rights protests, discourages the police abuses associated with oppression by raising the likelihood of accountability for such abuses, including by improving the likelihood of reforms to the criminal justice system.


2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
FIONA MACAULAY

AbstractThis commentary surveys some of the trends and gaps in current research on criminal justice reform in Latin America – with a focus on Brazil, and on two specific areas: police and prison/penal reform. It explores two principal themes: the uneven and thin production of knowledge about criminal justice issues; and the impact this has on policy reforms and on the ways in which these are framed and interpreted in terms of their relative success and failure. Overall it argues that we still know very little about criminal justice institutions and the actors within them. We also need many more finely-grained analyses of the dynamics of reform efforts and of the policy environments in which these take place in order to understand how and why reform initiatives are often derailed or subverted, and, more rarely, flourish and can be embedded and replicated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Dedi Putra

The implementation of court in Indonesia has not fulfilled as expected because any parties involving in court has a lack of capacity, consistency, and integrity to provide legal service seriously. Some people assume that court services are not still optimal. To settle the problems, the Supreme Court just has officially issued Regulation No. 1 of 2019 regarding the Administration of Cases and Legal Proceedings in Courts via Electronic Means on 8 August 2019. This regulation is believed as an appropriate solution to face those problems. To elaborate more, this study illustrates a judicial reform in Indonesia, e-court, and access to justice, the conception of e-court including the performance of e-court and its drawbacks and challenges in the digital era. The research method uses normative research by approaching legal review and literature study. The technique of primary data collection applies Supreme Court regulation while means of secondary data are collected from concept or theory as set out under bibliography. Judicial reform in Indonesia is indicated by issuing new regulation regarding e-Court and e-Litigation, the implementation e-Court itself has been attributed to 32 courts consisting of general religious, and state administrative courts. Through e-Court, access to justice more transparent and accessible. Besides, justice seekers have no worries regarding distance issues as of e-Court may allow them to fight in court without face to face. Parties have no doubt relating to the acceleration of court to settle any dispute in Indonesia.


Author(s):  
Javier Alonso ◽  
Jasmina Bjelic ◽  
Carlos Herrera ◽  
soledad hormazabal ◽  
Ivonne Ordooez ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Dumont ◽  
Genevieve Edens ◽  
Frederic de Mariz ◽  
Rebeca Rocha ◽  
Eduardo Roman ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 100848
Author(s):  
Ganesh M. Babulal ◽  
Valeria L. Torres ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Cinthya Agüero ◽  
Sara Aguilar-Navarro ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Frode Eika Sandnes

AbstractPurpose: Some universal accessibility practitioners have voiced that they experience a mismatch in the research focus and the need for knowledge within specialized problem domains. This study thus set out to identify the balance of research into the main areas of accessibility, the impact of this research, and how the research profile varies over time and across geographical regions. Method: All UAIS papers indexed in Scopus were analysed using bibliometric methods. The WCAG taxonomy of accessibility was used for the analysis, namely perceivable, operable, and understandable. Results: The results confirm the expectation that research into visual impairment has received more attention than papers addressing operable and understandable. Although papers focussing on understandable made up the smallest group, papers in this group attracted more citations. Funded research attracted fewer citations than research without funding. The breakdown of research efforts appears consistent over time and across different geographical regions. Researchers in Europe and North America have been active throughout the last two decades, while Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Middle East became active in during the last five years. There is also seemingly a growing trend of out-of-scope papers. Conclusions: Based on the findings, several recommendations are proposed to the UAIS editorial board.


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