This book examines the effect of social inequality, political influence, and institutional design on the effectiveness of legal systems in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. It demonstrates the inequality existent in these systems, as well as the occasional successes. Its focus is on the criminal prosecution of violent police officers, but it draws implications for democracy, the rule of law, court functioning, and police violence. The book describes judicial, prosecutorial, and police structures and operation, as well as the nature of and response to lethal police violence in each location.

Preface

 Effectiveness and Inequality in the Legal System

 A. Overcoming Resistance

 B. The Problem of Police Violence

 C. The Dependent Variable: Legal Effectiveness

 D. Proposing an Explanation

 E. Implications for the Rule of Law

2 Charting Injustice in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay

 A. Sources and Types of Data

 B. Comparing Violation Rates

 C. Comparing the Judicial Response to Violations

 D. The Likelihood of a Conviction Across and Within Jurisdictions

3 Informational and Normative Shifts Across Jurisdictions

 A. Open and Notorious Violations

 B. Effective Application of the Law: Normative and Information-Gathering Successes

 C. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil: Normative and Informational Shifts in Buenos Aires

 D. Garbage In, Garbage Out: Normative Success Frustrated by Information-Gathering Failures

 E. Overview of Normative and Informational Failures

4 Buenos Aires- Political Interference and Informational Dependence

 A. Federal and Provincial Criminal Procedure

 B. Social Context

 C. The System's Sources of Information

 D. Prosecutors

 E. The Courts

 E Summary

5 Sao Paulo- Normative Autonomy and Informational Failures

 A. The Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure

 B. Social Context

 C. The System's Sources of Information

 D. Prosecutors

 E. The Courts

 F. Summary

6 Uruguay-Strong Results from a Weak System

 A. The Uruguayan Code of Criminal Procedure

 B. Social Context

 C. The System's Sources of Information

 D. Prosecutors

 E. The Courts

 E Summary

7 Cordoba - High Levels of Inequality in a Strong System

 A. The Code of Criminal Procedure in Cordoba

 B. Social Context

 C. The System's Sources of Information

 D. Prosecutors

 E. The Courts

 E Summary

8 Salvador da Bahia - Social Cleansing Under Political and Judicial Indifference

 A. The Code of Criminal Procedure

 B. Social Context

 C. The Investigative Police

 D. Civil Society Actors

 E. Prosecutors

 E The Courts

 G. Summary

9 Binding Leviathan

 A. The Empirical Findings

 B. General Conclusions from the Empirical Findings

 C. Institutional Theory Revisited

Appendix: Methods, Case Selection, and Sampling

References

Index