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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2023

Erin Beck
Erin Beck*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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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Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , May 2024 , pp. 822 - 852
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Bar Foundation

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Footnotes

The author’s work on violence against women courts in Guatemala has been supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (Grant no. 4410H0) as well as by the University of Oregon’s Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, the Center for the Study of Women in Society, and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. Her research received Institutional Review Board’s (IRB) approval (University of Oregon IRB Protocol no. 04252016.037). Much of the research for this project was conducted alongside Lynn Stephen, Philip H. Knight Chair, professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon. The author would like to thank Lynn Stephen, Alison Gash, Priscilla Yamin, and the four anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript. Lastly, she thanks the many Guatemalans who lent their time, energy, and expertise to this project, especially the personnel associated with violence against women and girls (VAWG) courts in Guatemala City, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango.

References

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