IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlawss/v10y2021i3p58-d594488.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional Design, Prosecutorial Independence, and Accountability: Lessons from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)

Author

Listed:
  • Verónica Michel

    (Department of Political Science, John Jay College-City University of New York, New York, NY 10019, USA)

Abstract

In 2007 the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala began working to support the work of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption. In this short article, I address three questions: What was the design of CICIG? What were its results? How did the institutional design contribute to the impact it had in Guatemala? To answer these questions, I first discuss the problem of impunity and provide an interdisciplinary review of the factors that impact when a state punishes crime. In the following section, I briefly explain the institutionalist framework that guides my analysis of the work of CICIG and explain the theoretical importance of institutional design in the functioning of prosecutorial organs. In the third section I describe the institutional design of CICIG, its impact, and its limitations. In this section I explain how key characteristics in its design made this international commission a creative solution against impunity in a context where prosecuting state agents for human rights violations or corruption was virtually impossible. I conclude this article highlighting some key lessons from CICIG on matters of institutional design.

Suggested Citation

  • Verónica Michel, 2021. "Institutional Design, Prosecutorial Independence, and Accountability: Lessons from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:58-:d:594488
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/10/3/58/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/10/3/58/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne van Aaken & Lars P. Feld & Stefan Voigt, 2010. "Do Independent Prosecutors Deter Political Corruption? An Empirical Evaluation across Seventy-eight Countries," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 12(1), pages 204-244.
    2. Kenneth E. Fernandez & Michele Kuenzi, 2010. "Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58, pages 450-471, June.
    3. Lupu, Yonatan, 2013. "Best Evidence: The Role of Information in Domestic Judicial Enforcement of International Human Rights Agreements," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(3), pages 469-503, July.
    4. Aaron Chalfin & Justin McCrary, 2017. "Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 5-48, March.
    5. Kenneth E. Fernandez & Michele Kuenzi, 2010. "Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(3), pages 450-471, June.
    6. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink, Kathryn, 1998. "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 887-917, October.
    7. Anne Van Aaken & Eli Salzberger & Stefan Voigt, 2004. "The Prosecution of Public Figures and the Separation of Powers. Confusion within the Executive Branch -- A Conceptual Framework," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 261-280, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stuart S. Yeh, 2022. "New OSCE Recommendations to Combat Corruption, Money Laundering, and the Financing of Terrorism," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-23, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2020. "Judicial independence in the EU: a puzzle," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 83-100, February.
    2. Iddisah Sulemana, 2015. "The Effect of Fear of Crime and Crime Victimization on Subjective Well-Being in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 849-872, April.
    3. Blanco, Luisa R., 2013. "The impact of crime on trust in institutions in Mexico," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 38-55.
    4. Dursun Peksen & Robert G. Blanton, 2017. "The impact of ILO conventions on worker rights: Are empty promises worse than no promises?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 75-94, March.
    5. repec:osf:osfxxx:yn9rz_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Kalsi, Jaslin & Mackay, Robert & Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Tarverdi, Yashar, 2025. "Crimes of the current: Natural disasters and crime in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2019. "The Independence of Prosecutors and Government Accountability," Supreme Court Economic Review, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 1-19.
    8. Sarah Berens & Sabrina Karim, 2024. "Quotidian crime, wartime violence and public goods preferences: Evidence from Liberia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(4), pages 545-559, July.
    9. Kevin M. Morrison & Marc Rockmore, 2016. "Fear and Political Participation: Evidence from Africa," HiCN Working Papers 226, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Selim Jurgen Ergun & M. Fernanda Rivas & M�ximo Rossi, 2019. "Satisfaction with democracy in Latin America: Do the characteristics of the political system matter?," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 83(9), pages 353-383.
    11. Gelvez, Juan David, 2024. "Coca Politics: Electoral Accountability and Tough-on-Crime Policies in Colombia," OSF Preprints yn9rz, Center for Open Science.
    12. Kai-Ping Huang, 2023. "Support for Democracy in the Age of Rising Inequality and Population Aging," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 27-51, February.
    13. Saki Kuzushima & Kenneth Mori McElwain & Yuki Shiraito, 2024. "Public preferences for international law compliance: Respecting legal obligations or conforming to common practices?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 63-93, January.
    14. Accetturo, Antonio & Bugamelli, Matteo & Lamorgese, Andrea R., 2017. "Law enforcement and political participation: Italy, 1861–65," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 224-245.
    15. Corbacho, Ana & Philipp, Julia & Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio, 2015. "Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 400-415.
    16. Selim Jurgen Ergun & M. Fernanda Rivas & Máximo Rossi, 2019. "Satisfaction with democracy in Latin America: Do the characteristics of the political system matter?," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 83(9), pages 353-383, July.
    17. Abdul Saboor & Shumaila Sadiq & Atta Ullah Khan & Gulnaz Hameed, 2017. "Dynamic Reflections of Crimes, Quasi Democracy and Misery Index in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 31-45, August.
    18. Angelo Cozzubo & Elard Amaya & Juan Cueto, 2021. "The social costs of crime: the erosion of trust between citizens and public institutions," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 93-117, June.
    19. Julián Arévalo B., 2016. "State capacity and support for democracy: challenges and opportunities for post conflict Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo UEC 19536, Universidad Externado de Colombia.
    20. repec:gig:joupla:v:4:y:2012:i:2:p:89-123 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Matteo Pazzona, 2020. "Do victims of crime trust less but participate more in social organizations?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 49-73, March.
    22. Antje Wiener, 2016. "Contested Norms in Inter-National Encounters: The ‘Turbot War’ as a Prelude to Fairer Fisheries Governance," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 20-36.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:58-:d:594488. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.