Download or read book Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims Rights in Latin America written by Verónica Michel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-18 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Complementarity Catalysts Compliance written by Christian M. De Vos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-23 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Prosecutors Voters and The Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America written by Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-04-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies the largest foreign bribery case in history to identify the drivers, impact and dilemmas of resolute anti-corruption efforts.

Download or read book Institutions of Human Rights written by Gordon DiGiacomo and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2019-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Limits of Judicialization written by Sandra Botero and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-25 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Studies in Law Politics and Society written by Austin Sarat and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-04 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Condor Trials written by Francesca Lessa and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of transnational terror and justice illuminate the past and present of South America's struggles for human rights "Outstanding. . . . An Olympian view of the Condor system."--Philip Chrimes, International Affairs Through the voices of survivors and witnesses, human rights activists, judicial actors, journalists, and historians, Francesca Lessa unravels the secrets of transnational repression masterminded by South American dictators between 1969 and 1981. Under Operation Condor, their violent and oppressive regimes kidnapped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of exiles, or forcibly returned them to the countries from which they had fled. South America became a zone of terror for those who were targeted, and of impunity for those who perpetuated the violence. Lessa shows how networks of justice seekers gradually 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 one hundred 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.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America written by Rachel Sieder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 978 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Victims Before the International Criminal Court written by Christoph Safferling and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Vigilantes Beyond Borders written by Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Between Possibility and Peril written by Chris Kendall and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2024-07-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When do domestic courts protect international human rights? By the end of the twentieth century, the world had witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of international human rights law and a growing number of democratic states whose domestic institutions promised to protect those rights. A single institution often became the center of these efforts: the court. Advocates in newly democratized states could look to high courts to demand that their governments comply with international law and bring policy into line with liberal rhetoric. This process, however, put these young courts in a difficult position. With no deep well of historical legitimacy to draw on in new political environments, courts had to weigh high-minded legal principles against the limited resources or political preferences of elected governments. In such situations, how did these courts respond, and what strategies allowed some to successfully build their legitimacy over time while others faltered, succumbing to political pressure or suffering political backlash? In Between Possibility and Peril, Chris Kendall explores this dynamic in three states—Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa—in the twenty years following each country’s democratic transition. The case studies reveal a common pattern: what matters most is not international law itself, but a court’s ability to control its procedural environment. Control over these “rules of the game” allows a court to selectively engage international human rights issues that can enhance its legitimacy and build public support while avoiding those issues likely to put it in direct conflict with hostile political actors. The result is paradoxical—the most successful courts in the long term are those who in the short term often choose to disappoint rights advocates.

Download or read book Bootstrap Justice written by Janice K. Gallagher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2006, more than 85,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. These disappearances remain largely unsolved: disappeared people are rarely found, and the Mexican state almost never investigates or prosecutes those responsible. Despite this, people not only continue to report disappearances, but many devote their lives to answering the question, "where are they?" Given the risks and institutional barriers, why and how do people mobilize for justice in states with rampant impunity and weak rule of law? In Bootstrap Justice, Janice Gallagher leverages over a decade of ethnographic research to explain what enables the sustained mobilization of family members of the disappeared and analyze how configurations of political power between state and criminal actors shape what is possible for them to achieve. She follows three families from before the disappearance of their loved ones through their transformations into sophisticated and strategic victim advocates and activists. Gallagher supplements these individual narratives with an analysis of the evolving political opportunities for mobilization within Mexico. By centering the perspectives of people whose lives have been upended by the disappearance of their loved ones, Bootstrap Justice offers a unique window into how citizens respond to weak and corrupt institutions. Gallagher focuses on the overlooked role of informal relationships and dynamics in shaping substantive legal and human rights outcomes and highlights how pioneering independent and creative work-arounds can compensate for state inaction. While top-down efforts, such as judicial reforms, technical assistance, and changes in political leadership are important parts of addressing impunity, policymakers and scholars alike have much to learn from the bottom-up--and by following the path that citizens themselves have worn within the labyrinth of state judicial bureaucracies.

Download or read book Law Mobilization and Social Movements written by Whitney K. Taylor and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-03-28 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legal and social movement scholars have long puzzled over the role of movements in moving, being moved by, and changing the meanings of the law. But for decades, these two strands of scholarship only dovetailed at their edges, in the work of a few far-seeing scholars. The fields began to more productively merge before and after the turn of the century. In this Element, the authors take an interactive approach to this problem and sketch four mechanisms that seem promising in effecting a true fusion: legal mobilization, legal-political opportunity structure, social construction, and movement-countermovement interaction. The Element also illustrates the workings and interactions of these four mechanisms from two examples of the authors' work: the campaign for same-sex marriage in the United States and social constitutionalism in South Africa.

Download or read book Transition To Democracy In Latin America written by Irwin P Stotzky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition to democracy in Latin America encompasses adjustments in norms and institutions regarding the strictures of the rule of law. This book addresses the critical role of the judiciary in the transition. The contributors examine the significance of the independence of the judiciary, which ensures institutional integrity and freedom from p

Download or read book Lawyers in Conflict and Transition written by Kieran McEvoy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-17 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countries undergoing or recovering from conflict and authoritarianism often face profound rule of law challenges. The law on the statute books may be repressive, judicial independence may be compromised, and criminal justice agencies may be captured by powerful interests. How do lawyers working within such settings imagine the law? How do they understand their ethical obligations towards their clients and the rule of law? What factors motivate them to use their legal practice and social capital to challenge repressive power? What challenges and risks can they face if they do so? And when do lawyers facilitate or acquiesce to illegality and injustice? Drawing on over 130 interviews from Cambodia, Chile, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, and Tunisia, this book explores the extent to which theoretical understandings within law and society research on the motivations, strategies, tactics, and experiences of lawyers within democratic states apply to these more challenging environments.

Download or read book The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America written by Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How has Latin America pioneered the field of transitional justice (TJ)? Do approaches vary across the region? This Element describes Latin American innovations in trials and truth commissions, and evaluates two influential models that explain variation in TJ outcomes: the Huntingtonian and Justice Cascade approaches. It argues that scholars should complement these approaches with one that recognizes the importance of state capacity building and institutional change. To translate domestic/international political pressure and human rights norms into outcomes, states must develop 'TJ capabilities'. Not only should states be willing to pursue these highly complex policies, they must also develop competent bureaucracies.

Download or read book United States Attorneys Manual written by United States. Department of Justice and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: