Envisioning Reform: Conceptual and Practical Obstacles to Improving Judicial Performance in Latin AmericaJudicial reform became an important part of the agenda for development in Latin America early in the 1980s, when countries in the region started the process of democratization. Connections began to be made between judicial performance and market-based growth, and development specialists turned their attention to “second generation” institutional reforms. Although considerable progress has been made already in strengthening the judiciary and its supporting infrastructure (police, prosecutors, public defense counsel, the private bar, law schools, and the like), much remains to be done. Linn Hammergren’s book aims to turn the spotlight on the problems in the movement toward judicial reform in Latin America over the past two decades and to suggest ways to keep the movement on track toward achieving its multiple, though often conflicting, goals. After Part I’s overview of the reform movement’s history since the 1980s, Part II examines five approaches that have been taken to judicial reform, tracing their intellectual origins, historical and strategic development, the roles of local and international participants, and their relative success in producing positive change. Part III builds on this evaluation of the five partial approaches by offering a synthetic critique aimed at showing how to turn approaches into strategies, how to ensure they are based on experiential knowledge, and how to unite separate lines of action. |
From inside the book
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... Better public image. Over longer run, fewer complaints; over shorter run, more judges disciplined, dismissed for cause More efficient service, more cases resolved, backlog reduction, fewer delays in resolving cases More rulings against ...
... better trained, equipped and paid. This has not eliminated complaints about corruption and abusive treatment. A more common criticism is that members of the different organizations seem more hostile than cooperative toward each other ...
... better than an innovative but uninformed effort to describe them, but, in light of the human tendency to follow past habits until forced to change, it also is an invitation to business as usual. The common observation that newly ...
... better than nothing, but it also risks considerable backsliding as sector actors return to the vices of the past. The Failure to Recognize That There is No Single “Accusatorial” Model or to Realize That the Reforms Were Borrowing Pieces ...
... better or worse, Latin Americans appear to be forging their own, distinctive criminal justice systems, borrowing from a number of existing systems and also innovating freely. This is a legitimate approach as long as (1) it is recognized ...
Other editions - View all
Envisioning Reform: Improving Judicial Performance in Latin America Linn Hammergren Limited preview - 2010 |
Envisioning Reform: Improving Judicial Performance in Latin America Linn A. Hammergren No preview available - 2007 |