Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America

The first analysis of how victims of crime and human rights abuses access justice in Latin America through private prosecution.

Verónica Michel (Author)

9781108422048, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 January 2018

242 pages, 10 b/w illus. 27 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.48 kg

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.

Introduction: private prosecution, access to justice, and rule of law
1. Private prosecution as an accountability tool
2. Private prosecution as a victim's right in Latin America
3. David and Goliath: private prosecution in Guatemala
4. Against oblivion: private prosecution in Chile
5. Discovering the power of rights: private prosecution in Mexico
Conclusions: prosecutorial accountability and rule of law from below.

Subject Areas: Criminal justice law [LNFB], Legal system: general [LNA], International human rights law [LBBR], Human rights [JPVH], Regional government policies [JPRB]