Judicial Autonomy in Central America

Bowen, Rachel E.

doi:10.1177/1065912913477734

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Judges in upper-level courts, called magistrates, serve five-year terms and hold much more prestige. They are chosen through a “quasi-political process” in which a selection committee proposes a list of candidates, half of whom Congress selects to serve (Bowen 2013, 838). In practice, these procedures have allowed for corruption and influence peddling in the development of the candidate list and in the selection of magistrates (Bowen 2017).…”

Section: Judging In Guatemalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence against Women and Specialized Justice in Guatemala: Advances and Limitations

Beck¹

2023

Law Soc. Inq.

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This article provides the first detailed account of the structure, functioning, and impact of Guatemala’s Femicide and Other Forms of Violence against Women Criminal Courts. I assess the achievements and limitations of these courts from two views: a bird’s eye view, which explores how cases proceed through these specialized courts, and an insiders’ view, which explores the perspectives and practices of their judges. Combined, these views demonstrate that judges’ personal commitments and the courts’ institutional frameworks benefit the minority of women whose cases are heard in them but that these benefits are undercut by the broader social and institutional contexts in which judges and courts operate. This can be seen both in a panoramic view that reveals key locations where cases involving violence against women and girls stall in the judicial process and also through judges’ critiques of the systems in which they are embedded. Both views provide insights that should guide policy makers and activists seeking to better fulfill the promise of these courts.

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Section: Judging In Guatemalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence against Women and Specialized Justice in Guatemala: Advances and Limitations

Beck¹

2023

Law Soc. Inq.

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“…Probably all conceptualizations of judicial independence fall in the spectrum between perceiving independence as a feature of institutional design, and as a feature of judicial decision-making. Various terms can be applied to this dichotomy: some differ between independence as means and ends; 26 others apply labels such as 'structural insulation' 27 or refer to judicial independence as a specific mechanism 28 14 D. Kosař when speaking about the former; while others perceive it as a value in itself, 29 or label it as 'party detachment', 30 'impartiality' 31 or 'judicial autonomy', 32 when speaking about the latter. One can also distinguish between institutional, decisional and behavioral independence, 33 here the first term focuses on the level of the judiciary, while the other are understood at the level of individual judges.…”

Section: Reconciling De Iure and De Facto Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualization(s) of Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability by the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Kosař¹,

Spáč²

2018

IJCA

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This article focuses on conceptual issues regarding the new methodology of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ) for measuring judicial independence and accountability. First, we argue that the proposal mixes up several concepts-judicial independence, judicial accountability, transparency of the judiciary, and public trust in the judiciary-which should be treated separately. Second, the proposal relies too much on conceptions of independence developed by the judicial community. As a result, it treats judicial administration with higher levels of involvement of judges as inherently better without empirical evidence, and does not sufficiently distinguish between de iure and de facto judicial independence. Moreover, the ENCJ's indicators of judicial accountability are underinclusive as well as overinclusive and do not correspond to the traditional understanding of the concept. Finally, we argue that the ENCJ has to accept the possibility that (at least some types of) judicial councils (at least in some jurisdictions) might negatively affect (at least some facets of) judicial independence and judicial accountability. As a result, the ENCJ must adjust the relevant indicators accordingly.

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“…Most reviews of the growing comparative judicial politics literature (e.g., Bowen 2013, Ferejohn et al 2009, Kapiszewski & Taylor 2008 sum up how scholars have explored a plethora of institutional, structural, and ideological variables for explaining key phenomena and processes of interest, such as judicial decision making and other manifestations of judicial behavior; appointments, promotions, and demotions; and judicial power and legitimacy. The informal dimension of judicial politics is a diverse area of inquiry that covers not only informal institutions of relevance for judicial politics (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Informal Dimension of Judicial Politics: A Relational Perspective

Dressel

Urribarri

Stroh

2017

Annu. Rev. Law. Soc. Sci.

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This article proposes a relational approach to studying judicial politics in non-Western societies—a framework for the systematic analysis of informal relations between judges and other actors, within and outside the judiciary, based on common political interests, ideas, social identity, and even clientelistic obligations. We reflect on how these relations might help explain a variety of outcomes of interest, such as the organization of courts, judicial behavior, and judicial reform. We also highlight some of the methodological challenges of this approach in collecting and analyzing comparative data. In doing so, we seek to build an agenda for research on informal judicial politics beyond Western democracies.

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Judicial Autonomy in Central America

Cited by 7 publications

References 35 publications

Violence against Women and Specialized Justice in Guatemala: Advances and Limitations

Violence against Women and Specialized Justice in Guatemala: Advances and Limitations

Conceptualization(s) of Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability by the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

The Informal Dimension of Judicial Politics: A Relational Perspective

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