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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... Rules of Evidence (Pub. L. 93-595, § 1, Jan. 2, 1975, 88 Stat. 1937) allow judges to call and interrogate witnesses (Rule 614), but, as Richard Messick, who brought this to my attention, notes, they are less likely to do so “for a ...
... Rules concerning compulsory pretrial detention (often for any crime with a penalty in excess of three years) and their exaggerated application produced a high proportion of unsentenced prisoners. As many as 90 percent of those held in ...
... rules existed on treatment of suspects and the collection of evidence. Where prosecutors and investigating judges bothered to gather their own evidence, they usually did “desk investigations,” relying heavily on the contents of the ...
... rules and that what they collect is useful in building a case. 43. Interviews with Joseph Caldwell, chief of party for the usaid project, November, 1998, La Paz. 44. This is admittedly more in line with current European practices, but ...
... rule or principle on judicial impartiality holding that this is best guaranteed by not letting judges who have participated in pretrial hearings be involved in later procedural stages. As applied to the new criminal procedures, it ...
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 |