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Results for guatemala

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Author: Pearce, Jenny

Title: Violence, Power and Participation: Building Citizenship in Contexts of Chronic Violence

Summary: From the summary: "This paper is about civil society participation in two contexts of chronic violence: Colombia and Guatemala. It explores the extent to which civil society organisations can build citizenship in such contexts and simulataneously address violence. It argues that civil society organisations can play a vital role in building citizenship and confronting violent actors and acts of violence. The paper asks whether the promotion of non-dominating forms of power are needed if we are to tackle the damaging effects on human relationships and progress of willingness to inflict direct physical hurt on the Other. Non-dominating forms of power focus on enhancing everyone's power potential and capacity for action and promoting communication. If non-violence and non-dominating power gradually become the social norm, this might enhance citizenship and participation in ways that tackle other forms of violence, such as structural violence.

Details: UK: Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 2007

Source: Institute of Development Studies Working Paper 274; Citizenship DRC

Year: 2007

Country: United Kingdom

URL:

Shelf Number: 113964

Keywords:
Colombia
Guatemala
Violent Crime

Author: Arnson, Cynthia J.

Title: Organized Crime in Central America: The Northern Triangle

Summary: Incidents such as the May 2011 massacre on a farm in Guatemala’s Petén region, resulting in the murder and decapitation by drug gangs of 27 peasant farmers and their families, serve to underscore the serious threat to human rights, democratic governance, and the rule of law posed by organized crime in Central America. The international community has begun to address the burgeoning crisis and commit significant resources to the fight against crime and violence; indeed, not since the Central American wars of the 1980s has the region commanded so much attention in the international arena. To better understand the nature, origins, and evolution of organized crime in Central America and the challenges it poses—and thereby contribute to the efforts of policy-makers and civil society to address it—the Latin American Program commissioned original research on the dynamics of organized crime in the three countries of the so-called Northern Triangle—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—and on the broader regional context that links these case studies. This publication includes essays by Douglas Farah (El Salvador), Julie López (Guatemala), James Bosworth (Honduras), Steven Dudley, and Cynthia Arnson and Eric Olson (regional overviews) and is part of a series on the sub-regional dynamics of organized crime, focusing especially on the linkages between Central America, Mexico, and the Andean region as well as the growing insertion of Latin America in global transnational crime networks.

Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin America Program, 2011. 254p.

Source: Woodrow Wilson Center Reports on the Americas #29: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2012 at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/LAP_single_page.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Central America

URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/LAP_single_page.pdf

Shelf Number: 124216

Keywords:
Drug Cartels
Drug Trafficking
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Organized Crime (Central America)
Violent Crime

Author: International Justice Mission

Title: Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012: Indicators of Practice, Process and Resolution within Cases of Child Sexual Assault

Summary: This study analyzes the performance of Guatemala's criminal justice system (CJS) in cases of sexual assault. The main goal of this study is to contribute to the efforts of the CJS in improving the response of the system to cases of child sexual assault (CSA). This study uses database reports from the Public Ministry's (MP) Information Control System (SICOMP) from 2008 to 2012. These reports included information about complaints filed, accusations, sentences, pre-trial testimonies, victims, and the status of cases at the national level. Moreover, reports from the Judicial System's National Center of Analysis and Documentation (CENADOJ) of terminated processes during the years 2008-2010 were also used. The CENADOJ reports consisted of data pertaining to child sexual abuse crimes in the departments of Quezaltenango, Guatemala, and Alta Verapaz. These departments have the highest rates of child sexual abuse complaints in all of Guatemala. From this data, 182 records were selected and this information provided first-hand accounts of judicial practices. In addition to the quantitative data provided by SICOMP, such as the data collected from the judicial records with a final sentence between 2008 and 2010, 75 officials from the CJS who intervene in CSA cases and 22 officials from social agencies were interviewed. These interviews captured their perspective on the development of the Guatemalan CJS. 60 prosecutors and assistant prosecutors from the MP were also interviewed to capture their experience with procedural outcomes in the cases of sexual crimes committed against children. The methodology also was validated before a panel of experts and criminal law scholars. The majority of their contributions are included in this study's analysis. The data was discussed with MP officials from SICOMP, with whom the numbers and interpretation of data were clarified. Lastly, the report was presented to high-level officials from the MP and the Judicial Branch (OJ). All these activities allowed for a wide validation of, and transparency in this study. One of the main findings of the study was that Guatemala has adapted the internal regulations to international standards (2009), but the main problem lies in the effective implementation of the regulatory framework. However, the system has made significant progress as new best practices for the protection and holistic attention of children begin to be applied in cases of CSA. Despite changes in the law and the introduction of Decree 9-2009, the Law Against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Trafficking of Persons, Guatemala continues to have high numbers of complaints of sexual assault. In the last five years, 36,166 cases were reported, making it the seventh mostreported crime within the Public Ministry in 20144. Of these complaints, 44% of victims were minors and the majority, female. Based on the analysis of the sample, nearly 90% of the perpetrators were individuals known to the child. Nationally, the Public Prosecutor's Office reported 9.4% complaints of assault between 2008 and 2012. Of these complaints, only 5.86% ended in a verdict. Of these verdicts (182 cases), 80% resulted in a conviction and 20% ended in an acquittal. The study also found that child victims were required to recount their story to approximately eight different professionals, each from a different criminal justice system institution. The sample showed that the mechanisms to avoid the re-traumatization of minors in the criminal process are under-utilized. Only 1.52% of CSA cases between 2008 and 2012 applied pre-trial testimony procedures. In very few instances were adequate locations used to hear the testimonies of child victims, or screens used at trial to protect the victim from the view of the perpetrator. During the years of this study, training for CJS officials was insufficient and sporadic. Official training procedures lacked both consistency and the capacity to monitor the implementation of training content. The study makes it possible to examine the situation of child victims in cases of sexual assault and to establish a baseline of indicators in the attention, processing and resolution of these cases. The main recommendations of this study are: -Public policy should be designed to strengthen deterrence, in order to prevent minors from becoming victims of sexual crimes. -Policies that adopt mechanisms to provide proper treatment for minors who have been victims of sexual assault crimes should be implemented within the different institutions of the CJS, such as the Public Ministry's Model for Holistic Attention. -CJS institutions should develop reliable systems that permit the interconnection and exchange of information for strategic decision making, in order to avoid sub-records or inconsistent records. -There is an urgent need for the implementation of coordination mechanisms between the Public Ministry - as the directing unit of the investigation- and the National Civil Police, to conduct key investigations in the least amount of time possible. -The CJS should not support the application of alternative conclusions to the criminal process in cases of rape or other crimes of sexual assault against minors. -Inter-institutional coordination should be promoted within the CJS to avoid an excess of testimonies from the child. -Judges, prosecutors and other officials from the CJS should be aware of the traumatic effects of the criminal process and what methods they can use to reduce them. This includes the use of the pre-trial testimony in the case of minor victims of sexual crimes. Proper locations should be sought out to create better conditions for children to give their testimonies, and the recording of these testimonies should consistently apply the attention/care protocols. -The training units from the different institutions of the legal sector should develop and implement a training process on the issues of protection, investigation, sanction and restitution of damages for minors who have been victims of sexual assault crimes. This process should include methodology to evaluate the incorporation of the acquired knowledge when delivering services.

Details: Guatemala City, Guatemala: International Justice Mission, 2013. 149p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2019 at: https://www.ijm.org/documents/studies/Guatemala-Public-Justice-System-Performance-Study.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: Guatemala

URL: https://www.ijm.org/studies/guatemalan-criminal-justice-system-performance-study-2008-2012

Shelf Number: 156546

Keywords:
Child Sexual Assault
Child Victims
Guatemala
Sentences
Sexual Abuse
Sexual Assault
Sexual Crimes
Trafficking of Persons
Violence Against Girls