How can institutional reforms aid effective investigation and prosecution in post-conflict societies? This chapter forms part of a handbook on serious crime in post-conflict societies from the United States Institute of Peace. It presents examples of institutional reform mechanisms, drawing from a dozen recent international interventions and covering the police, the judiciary, prosecutor services, criminal defence, and prisons. Institutional reforms to the criminal justice system in post-conflict societies are crucial in developing a fair and effective system of justice that is transparent, accountable and efficient.
Post-conflict criminal justice institutions suffer from lack of capacity and resources, inefficiency and corruption and from lack of compliance with international and regional human rights standards. Consequently the criminal justice system’s ability to combat serious crimes is hampered and the public tend to lose confidence in the system.
The chapter discusses in particular, the reforms of the police, including the creation of specialised units; specialised courts; legal assistance; protections of the police and the judiciary and witness protection programmes. Findings include the following:
- In a post-conflict state there may be a great deal of mistrust of police based on past violations of the rights of the population
- Access to counsel and notification of family members without restriction is the general principle and should be followed in all but very exceptional cases
- Judges and prosecutors may continue to demonstrate bias and prejudice against certain ethnic, religious, or political groups
- Judges may be vulnerable to intimidation and physical threats by criminal actors, or may be subjected to actual or perceived pressure from peers or societal groups.
Whilst no single model can be recommended, a number of factors should be born in mind when approaching post-conflict institutional reform:
- Developing a police force that complies with internationally recognised human rights standards and principles is an international obligation and good policy
- It may be useful for a police operation to develop a number of specialised groups in order to better handle serious crimes
- Integrating and implementing internationally recognised human rights standards and principles of democratic policing will help rebuild people’s trust in the police force
- The police must have access to sufficient budgetary resources and the administrative assistance needed to tackle serious crimes
- Establishing a fully functional, fair and effective judicial system requires a long-term and multifaceted effort and steps should be taken as early as possible
- Close protection may be needed for a variety of people who are subject to intimidation because of their involvement in serious crimes cases, including: judges, prosecutors, witnesses and defence counsel.
