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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:24 pm
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Results for judicial system
7 results foundAuthor: Sumner, Cate Title: Courting Reform: Indonesia's Islamic Courts and Justice for the Poor Summary: Western perceptions of Islam in Indonesia are often dominated by images of radical minorities seeking a shari’ah state. In reality, however, mainstream Islamic institutions have played an important part in the post-Soeharto process of democratisation and institutional reform. Among them are Indonesia’s Islamic courts, the Pengadilan Agama or Religious Courts. This report shows the Islamic courts have embraced reform within a judicial system notorious for corruption and incompetence, taking the lead in efforts to deliver decisions that are more accessible, transparent and fair, especially for women and the poor. Details: Double Bay, New South Wales: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2010. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Lowy Institute Paper 31: Accessed April 4, 2011 at: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=1470 Year: 2010 Country: Indonesia URL: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=1470 Shelf Number: 121223 Keywords: Administration of JusticeCourt Reform (Indonesia)IslamJudicial System |
Author: International Crisis Group Title: Learning to Walk without a Crutch: The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala Summary: Since it began operations in September 2007, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala, CICIG) has brought a degree of hope to a country deeply scarred by post-conflict violence and entrenched impunity. As homicide rates sky-rocketed and criminals fought for territorial control and dominated or corrupted multiple levels of state agencies, the novel independent investigating entity created by agreement between the government and the UN Secretary-General responded to fear that illegal armed groups had become a threat to the state itself. Much remains to be done, however. During the next years the commission should establish the strategic basis for dismantling the illegal security forces and clandestine security organisations (Cuerpos Ilegales y Aparatos Clandestinos de Seguridad, CIACS) over the long term and building Guatemalan justice capacity, including by supporting national ownership of the commission’s functions and embedding them within the judicial system. CICIG’s formal mandate is to support and assist domestic justice institutions in the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by CIACS, to identify their structures, operations and financing and ultimately to dismantle them. At the same time, CICIG has sought to strengthen the weak judicial system in order to put an end to impunity, a task made infinitely more difficult by the complex relationship between elements of state institutions, political parties, the private sector and the CIACS. On 13 January 2011, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed a second two-year extension of CICIG’s original mandate, to 4 September 2013. The commission has achieved notable and unprecedented short-term successes, evidenced by positive outcomes in a series of high-impact legal cases, dismissal and prosecution of several senior officials, removal of a compromised attorney general and the selection of a respected successor. It has encouraged the adoption of norms for election of Supreme Court judges and helped generate public awareness about impunity, CIACS and organised crime. It contributed directly to the creation of a Special Prosecutor’s Office that assists its work (Unidad Especial de la Fiscalía de Apoyo a la CICIG, UEFAC) and has supported greater professionalism in the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público, MP), the institution charged with the investigation and prosecution of crimes in Guatemala. It has also pushed through a limited number of important legal reforms. However, the core elements of the mandate – dismantling the CIACS and consolidating sustainable institutional transformation – remain unmet, and it is uncertain whether sufficient progress has been achieved or at least the foundations have been laid to guarantee those goals will be accomplished. Severe structural constraints and the resistance of diverse spoilers, as well as limitations imposed by the commission’s own mandate and strategies, have been restraining factors. Such institutional transformation as there has been will remain isolated exceptions, unless further legislative reforms are adopted to extend them throughout state institutions. Moreover, there is a serious question about the degree to which the Guatemalan state and broader society are prepared to exercise ownership of CICIG and sustain its achievements. Clear measures need to be taken to reduce the possibility that continuation of the mandate will only make the justice system more dependent on external mechanisms. National ownership of the commission’s functions and objectives is crucial to guaranteeing its long-term impact. Assuring a sustainable legacy through the transfer of technical capacities from CICIG to national institutions should be a priority during the next two years. CICIG has provided a crutch. The justice system must now learn to walk on its own and increasingly assume the responsibilities with which CICIG has been charged. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2011. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 36: Accessed June 29, 2011 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/36%20Learning%20to%20Walk%20without%20a%20Crutch%20---%20The%20International%20Commission%20Against%20Impunity%20in%20Guatemala.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Guatemala URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/36%20Learning%20to%20Walk%20without%20a%20Crutch%20---%20The%20International%20Commission%20Against%20Impunity%20in%20Guatemala.pdf Shelf Number: 121886 Keywords: Criminal Justice Systems(Guatemala)Judicial SystemViolence Corruption |
Author: Hudson, Andrew Title: Baseless Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia: In the Dock and Under the Gun Summary: In a criminal justice system plagued by impunity, the tenacity with which Colombian prosecutors pursue human rights defenders for supposed crimes is striking. While corruption and arbitrary actions are a systemic problem throughout the judicial system, those who peacefully promote human rights are singled out for particular intimidation through baseless investigations and prosecutions. Unfounded charges are often widely publicized, undermining the credibility of defenders and marking them as targets for physical attack, often by paramilitary groups. While defenders are not alone in being subjected to false investigations, their persecution is distinctive due to the nature of the charges and the methods of collecting, and falsifying, evidence. They are usually accused of rebellion and membership in a guerrilla organization. By the time defenders are illegally detained, they have often been investigated in secret for many months or even years. Two of the hallmarks distinctive to defenders’ cases are the use of false testimony from ex-combatants and of inadmissible intelligence files. Charges are typically based on spurious allegations by ex-guerrillas whose testimony has been coerced or coached by regional prosecutors. Armed with such erroneous evidence, which is objectively inadequate to initiate an investigation, prosecutors and others publicly pre-judge the defendants, stigmatizing defenders as terrorists. Because defenders are singled out for this type of persecution, solutions that focus specifically on defenders are needed. The steadfast investigation of spurious criminal complaints against defenders stands in stark contrast to the failure to investigate attacks, threats, and other forms of intimidation perpetrated against them or against civilians more generally. The Colombian state also fails to prosecute or otherwise discipline judicial officials who instigate such specious prosecutions. Human rights defenders in Colombia play a legitimate and essential role in protecting basic rights and strengthening democratic institutions. Charges against them are often politically motivated and intended primarily to discredit and stigmatize them individually and as a class. Unfounded criminal charges are damaging in many ways: The stigmatization of defenders as terrorist sympathizers places them at considerable risk of reprisal and death threats by paramilitaries or others; The proceedings force defenders to expend time and resources defending themselves, diminishing their capacity to perform productive human rights work; The charges discredit defenders and tarnish their reputations as legitimate human rights activists; and The threat of political prosecution has a chilling effect, encouraging defenders to practice selfcensorship and limit their activities. In relation to Colombia, the U.N. Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders has stated that such “proceedings are part of a strategy to silence human rights defenders.”3 Despite increasing attention to the issue, in the absence of a detailed study, some Colombian officials refuse to acknowledge that there is a widespread problem. Human Rights First has spent more than a year researching and documenting 32 cases of unfounded prosecutions against defenders. Analysis of primary materials such as interviews with defenders, defense briefs, prosecutors’ resolutions, and judicial sentences reveal the spurious nature of these criminal investigations. For the first time, this report reveals a positive development: prosecutors and judges all over Colombia are recognizing the existence of malicious prosecutions against defenders. However, it is not enough to identify the problem or to mitigate its effects after damage has been done. There must be fundamental changes in the justice system. As a major supporter of judicial reform in Colombia, the United States can play a constructive role in combating malicious prosecutions of human rights defenders. It is clearly in the interests of the United States to have a vibrant civil society in Colombia, which can freely express ideas and strengthen respect for the rule of law. Based on an analysis of 32 cases and extensive interviews with government officials and human rights defenders, Human Rights First makes concluding recommendations. Details: New York: Human Rights First, 2009. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 1, 2012 at: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/090211-HRD-colombia-eng.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Colombia URL: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/090211-HRD-colombia-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 127048 Keywords: False AccusationsHuman Rights Defenders (Colombia)Judicial SystemPolitical CorruptionProsecution |
Author: Corriher, Billy Title: Criminals and Campaign Cash: The Impact of Judicial Campaign Spending on Criminal Defendants Summary: As state supreme court campaigns become more expensive and more partisan, the fear of being portrayed as "soft on crime" is leading courts to rule more often for prosecutors and against criminal defendants. That is the disturbing finding of this Center for American Progress study, which explores the impact on the criminal justice system of the explosion in judicial campaign cash and the growing use of political attack ads in state supreme court elections, which have increased pressure on elected judges to appear "tough on crime." In carrying out this study, CAP collected data on supreme courts that, between 2000 and 2007, saw their first election in which the candidates and independent spenders spent more than $3 million. This includes high courts in Illinois, Mississippi, Washington, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, and West Virginia. For each of these courts, CAP examined 4,684 rulings in criminal cases for a time period starting five years before a given state's first $3 million high court election and ending five years after that election. The findings reveal a clear trend: As campaign cash increased, the courts studied began to rule more often in favor of prosecutors and against criminal defendants. - The 2004 Illinois Supreme Court race broke judicial campaign spending records. As Illinois voters were bombarded with attack ads featuring violent criminals, the high court ruled in favor of the prosecution in 69 percent of its criminal cases - an 18 percent increase over the previous year. - Some states saw a sharp increase in rulings for the state just after their first elections in which spending reached $3 million. Mississippi's high court, for example, saw its first $3 million election in 2000 and some nasty political attack ads that same year. When the next judicial election rolled around two years later, in 2002, Mississippi's justices ruled against criminal defendants in 90 percent of the high court's criminal cases - a 20 percent increase from 2000. - After two politically charged races in 2007 and 2008, the Wisconsin Supreme Court's percentage of rulings for the state shot to 90 percent during the 2009 and 2011 election years. - The correlations were strongest in years that saw more ads produced and paid for by independent groups unaffiliated with the candidates - ads that tended to be more negative than those of the candidates. The one court in the study that saw no independent spending, the Nevada Supreme Court, did not exhibit a tendency to rule for the state during big-money elections. - The Washington and Georgia high courts saw a huge spike in independent spending in 2006, followed by a sharp decline. The percentage of rulings against criminal defendants in these courts also peaked in 2006 and then dropped precipitously as the campaign cash and attack ads disappeared. These results suggest that, just as judges are more likely to rule against criminal defendants as elections approach, state supreme courts are more likely to rule for the state as the amount of money in high court elections increases. These findings have important implications for the debates over reforming our criminal justice system. In the past 50 years, the U.S. government has cracked down on drug crimes and provided financial incentives for states to do the same. The so-called War on Drugs has resulted in over-incarceration and the growth of private prisons, which has given certain companies a financial incentive in maintaining this status quo. But as the financial cost of the nation's drug war has become clear, Americans are debating whether our punitive approach is working. The federal government is scaling back the use of harsh mandatory minimums, and some states, including Georgia, are experimenting with alternative sentencing. If reformers want to stop over-incarceration and ensure that criminal defendants are treated fairly, they must also speak out about the politicization of judicial elections and the tarring of judges as being soft on crime in attack ads, a practice that compels courts to rule for the state and against defendants. The enormous sums of money spent in recent judicial elections have fueled an increase in attack ads targeting judges. State supreme court candidates raised more than $200 million between 2000 and 2009 - two and a half times more than in the 1990s. A record $28 million was spent on television ads in 2012 high court elections, with half of this money coming in the form of independent spending, according to Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice. These independent spenders are more likely than the candidates' campaigns to run attack ads. Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2013. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 7, 2013 at: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CampaignCriminalCash-4.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CampaignCriminalCash-4.pdf Shelf Number: 131575 Keywords: Campaign ContributionsCourtsCriminal Justice ReformJudges (U.S.)Judicial SystemSentencing |
Author: American Bar Association. Center for Human Rights Title: Tilted Scales: Social Conflict and Criminal Justice in Guatemala Summary: Guatemala has made progress in the last decade addressing the legacy of thirty-six years of internal armed conflict, including by holding key actors responsible for atrocities. However, the level of social conflict in Guatemala remains high in part because many of the issues that contributed to past discord remain unresolved. These issues include disputes over land titles and the exploitation of resources in historically indigenous territories. Social conflict has at times manifested in violence against both indigenous communities and individuals associated with business interests. In this setting, a wide variety of organizations - local and international, governmental and non-governmental - have reported a pattern of attacks, threats, and frivolous criminal charges against human rights defenders, specifically in the context of disputes over mega projects in indigenous lands. These reports prompted the American Bar Association's Center for Human Rights, Georgetown University Law Center's Human Rights Institute and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights to conduct a fact-finding mission in Guatemala to determine whether allegations of the misuse of the judicial system against human rights advocates were well founded. We interviewed government officials, civil society leaders, defense attorneys and community activists in Guatemala City from November 26-30, 2012. In addition, we reviewed court documents, official reports and press accounts concerning emblematic cases to evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence against defendants, the government's response to credible threats against activists and the conduct of business personnel. Details: Washington, DC: American Bar Association Center for Human Rights, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2016 at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/opportunities/upload/Tilted-Scales-Social-Conflict-and-Criminal-Justice-in-Guatemala.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Guatemala URL: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/opportunities/upload/Tilted-Scales-Social-Conflict-and-Criminal-Justice-in-Guatemala.pdf Shelf Number: 138558 Keywords: Criminal Justice SystemsHuman Rights AbusesJudicial SystemNatural Resources |
Author: Kham, Nang Yin Title: An Introduction to the Law and Judicial System of Myanmar Summary: The intention of this paper is to provide an introduction to the law and legal system of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Myanmar). Based on common legal texts, the paper highlights the main sources of law and legal institutions, in particular the judiciary and the legal profession. The paper also reviews the structure of the judicial system through different time periods, describes judicial appointments in the highest courts, and summarises key processes in civil and criminal practice and procedure. A brief bibliography is provided at the end of the paper. Details: Singapore: Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore,. 2014. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Myanmar Law Working Paper Series Working Paper No.001: Accessed April 6, 2017 at: http://law.nus.edu.sg/pdfs/cals/working_papers/Myanmar/MWPS001.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Burma URL: http://law.nus.edu.sg/pdfs/cals/working_papers/Myanmar/MWPS001.pdf Shelf Number: 144726 Keywords: Criminal Law Judicial System |
Author: Philippe, Arnaud Title: Gender disparities in criminal justice Summary: This paper uses the universe of convictions occurred in France between 2000 and 2003 to document the gender gap in criminal justice. First, during this period, and after controlling for very precise description of the offenses as well as other observable characteristics, women get prison sentences 15 days shorter than men on average. This represents a 33% decrease in comparison to the average prison length in the sample (44 days). Second, this gender gap is also observed within pairs of criminals, each consisting of one man and one woman, who are convicted together, on the same day, by the same person and for the same crime. Lastly, this paper present robust evidences that the gender gap is affected by the judges' gender but not the prosecutors' gender. Using the evolution of courts' composition between 2000 and 2003, results show that a one-standard-deviation increase in the number of women in the court decreases the gender gap by 10%. Details: Toulouse: Toulouse School of Economics, 2017. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. 17-762: Accessed April 21, 2017 at: https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2017/wp_tse_762.pdf Year: 2017 Country: France URL: https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2017/wp_tse_762.pdf Shelf Number: 145143 Keywords: Gender Disparities Judicial SystemSentencing |