Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America

Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America PDF Author: Verónica Michel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108390137
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The responsibility of any state is to protect its citizens. But if a state, either through omission or commission, fails to investigate and prosecute crime then what remedies do citizens have? Verónica Michel investigates procedural rights in Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico that allow citizens to call for the appointment of a private prosecutor to initiate criminal investigations. This right diminishes the monopoly of the state over criminal prosecutions and thus offers citizens a way of insisting on state accountability. This book provides the first full-length empirical study of how the victims' right to private prosecution can impact access to justice in Latin America, and shows how institutional and legal arrangements interact to shape the politics of criminal justice. By examining homicide cases in detail, Michel highlights how everyday legal struggles can help build the rule of law from below.

Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America

Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America PDF Author: Verónica Michel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108390137
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The responsibility of any state is to protect its citizens. But if a state, either through omission or commission, fails to investigate and prosecute crime then what remedies do citizens have? Verónica Michel investigates procedural rights in Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico that allow citizens to call for the appointment of a private prosecutor to initiate criminal investigations. This right diminishes the monopoly of the state over criminal prosecutions and thus offers citizens a way of insisting on state accountability. This book provides the first full-length empirical study of how the victims' right to private prosecution can impact access to justice in Latin America, and shows how institutional and legal arrangements interact to shape the politics of criminal justice. By examining homicide cases in detail, Michel highlights how everyday legal struggles can help build the rule of law from below.

Prosecutors, Voters and The Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America

Prosecutors, Voters and The Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America PDF Author: Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009329847
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Studies the largest foreign bribery case in history to identify the drivers, impact and dilemmas of resolute anti-corruption efforts.

Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance

Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance PDF Author: Christian M. De Vos
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316996972
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
Since its establishment at the turn of the century, a central preoccupation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been to catalyse the pursuit of criminal accountability at the domestic level. Drawing on ten years of research, this book theorizes the ICC's principle of complementarity as a transnational site and adaptive strategy for realizing an array of ambitious governance goals. Through a grounded, inter-disciplinary approach, it illustrates how complementarity came to be framed as a 'catalyst for compliance' and its unexpected effects on the legal frameworks and institutions of three different ICC 'situation countries' in Africa: Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Linking complementarity's law and practice to contemporary debates in international law and relations, the book unsettles international law's dominant progressive narrative. It urges a critical rethinking of the ICC's politics and a reorientation towards international criminal justice as a project of global legal pluralism.

Institutions of Human Rights

Institutions of Human Rights PDF Author: Gordon DiGiacomo
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487593244
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Written from a global perspective, The Institutions of Human Rights examines international human rights institutions and procedures, as well as weighty issues such as the protection of refugee and labor laws. Closely examining international human rights organizations, including the International Labour Organization, the International Criminal Court, and the European Court of Human Rights, this text places a particular focus on how institutions function, arguing that to truly understand human rights affairs one must also understand the politics and motivations at the core of these institutions. Each chapter includes key learning objectives and take-away messages and concludes with discussion questions to promote critical thinking and engagement.

The Limits of Judicialization

The Limits of Judicialization PDF Author: Sandra Botero
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009103415
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Latin America was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of what has come to be known as the judicialization of politics - the use of law and legal institutions as tools of social contestation to curb the abuse of power in government, resolve policy disputes, and enforce and expand civil, political, and socio-economic rights. Almost forty years into this experiment, The Limits of Judicialization brings together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars to assess the role that law and courts play in Latin American politics. Featuring studies of hot-button topics including abortion, state violence, judicial corruption, and corruption prosecutions, this volume argues that the institutional and cultural changes that empowered courts, what the editors call the 'judicialization superstructure,' often fall short of the promise of greater accountability and rights protection. Illustrative and expansive, this volume offers a truly interdisciplinary analysis of the limits of judicialized politics.

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society PDF Author: Austin Sarat
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1839822805
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This volume of Studies in Law, Politics and Society brings together an international and interdisciplinary array of scholars to explore issues on the cutting edge of socio-legal research.

The Condor Trials

The Condor Trials PDF Author: Francesca Lessa
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300265360
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Stories of transnational terror and justice illuminate the past and present of South America’s struggles for human rights. Through the voices of survivors, human rights activists, judicial actors, and experts, The Condor Trials unravels the secrets of transnational repression masterminded by South American dictators between 1969 and 1981. Under Operation Condor, the regimes of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay closely monitored hundreds of exiles and kidnapped, tortured, murdered, or forcibly returned them to their countries of origin. This cross-border network designed to silence opposition in exile transformed South America into a borderless zone of terror and impunity. Francesca Lessa shows how, gradually, transnational networks of activists materialized and effectively transcended national borders to achieve justice for the victims of these horrors. Based on extensive fieldwork, archival research, trial ethnography, and over 100 interviews, The Condor Trials explores South America’s past and present and sheds light on ongoing struggles for justice as its societies come to terms with the unparalleled atrocities of their not-so-distant pasts.

Routledge Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America

Routledge Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America PDF Author: Rachel Sieder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317291271
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 978

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Book Description
An understanding of law and its efficacy in Latin America demands concepts distinct from the hegemonic notions of "rule of law" which have dominated debates on law, politics and society, and that recognize the diversity of situations and contexts characterizing the region. The Routledge Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America presents cutting-edge analysis of the central theoretical and applied areas of enquiry in socio-legal studies in the region by leading figures in the study of law and society from Latin America, North America and Europe. Contributors argue that scholarship about Latin America has made vital contributions to longstanding and emerging theoretical and methodological debates on the relationship between law and society. Key topics examined include: The gap between law-on-the-books and law in action The implications of legal pluralism and legal globalization The legacies of experiences of transitional justice Emerging forms of socio-legal and political mobilization Debates concerning the relationship between the legal and the illegal. The Routledge Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America sets out new research agendas for cross-disciplinary socio-legal studies and will be of interest to those studying law, sociology of law, comparative Latin American politics, legal anthropology and development studies.

Victims Before the International Criminal Court

Victims Before the International Criminal Court PDF Author: Christoph Safferling
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030801772
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
The book analyses the difficulties the International Criminal Court faces with the definition of those persons who are eligible for participating in the proceedings. Establishing justice for victims is one of the most important aims of the court. It therefore created a unique system of victim participation. Since its first trial the court struggles to live up to the expectancies its statute has generated. The book offers a new approach of how to define victimhood by looking at the different international crimes. It seeks to offer guidance for the right to participate in the different stages of the proceedings by looking at the practice in national jurisdictions. Lastly the book offers insights into the functioning of the reparation regime at the ICC by virtue of the Trust Fund for Victim and its different mandates. The critical analysis of the ICC-practice with regard to definition, participation and reparation aims at promoting a realistic approach, which will avoid the disappointing of expectations and thus help to enhance the acceptance of the ICC.

Vigilantes beyond Borders

Vigilantes beyond Borders PDF Author: Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691232245
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
How and why NGOs are increasingly taking independent and direct action in global law enforcement, from human rights to the environment Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have generally served as advocates and service providers, leaving enforcement to states. Now, NGOs are increasingly acting as private police, prosecutors, and intelligence agencies in enforcing international law. NGOs today can be found investigating and gathering evidence; suing and prosecuting governments, companies, and individuals; and even catching lawbreakers red-handed. Examining this trend, Vigilantes beyond Borders considers why some transnational groups have opted to become enforcers of international law regarding such issues as human rights, the environment, and corruption, while others have not. Three factors explain the rise of vigilante enforcement: demand, supply, and competition. Governments commit to more international laws, but do a poor job of policing them, leaving a gap and creating demand. Legal and technological changes make it easier for nonstate actors to supply enforcement, as in the instances of NGOs that have standing to use domestic and international courts, or smaller NGOs that employ satellite imagery, big data analysis, and forensic computing. As the growing number of NGOs vie for limited funding and media attention, smaller, more marginal, groups often adopt radical strategies like enforcement. Looking at the workings of major organizations, including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and Transparency International, as well as smaller players, such as Global Witness, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and Bellingcat, Vigilantes beyond Borders explores the causes and consequences of a novel, provocative approach to global governance.