Afro-Descendant Representation on Latin American Courts
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Fordham Law School FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History SJD Dissertations Academics 2020 Afro-Descendant Representation On Latin American Courts Daniel Gomez Mazo Fordham University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sjd Recommended Citation Gomez Mazo, Daniel, "Afro-Descendant Representation On Latin American Courts" (2020). SJD Dissertations. 17. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sjd/17 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Academics at FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in SJD Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW S.J.D. DISSERTATION AFRO-DESCENDANT REPRESENTATION ON LATIN AMERICAN COURTS DANIEL GÓMEZ MAZO ACADEMIC ADVISOR: PROF. TANYA K. HERNÁNDEZ. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS: PROFESSORS MATHILDE COHEN, PAOLO GALIZZI, AND ROBIN LENHARDT. 2020 To my mom, who taught me courage. 2 Table of contents I. The research project: Making Latin American courts’ racial homogeneity visible 7 1. Introduction and contribution of the project 7 2. Specific research objectives 13 3. Selection of the case study 13 4. Study setting and context 14 4.1. An introduction to race relations in Latin America, with specific 15 emphasis in Colombia 4.2. Characterizing the Latin American racial order 28 4.2.1. The nuances of racial fluidity in Latin America: Racial 33 classifications, racial identities, and ways of naming race 5. Limitations on pre-existing data and statistical invisibility 37 6. Institutional precariousness of Latin American judiciaries 38 7. International, constitutional and legal protections for Afro-descendants in 39 Latin America 7.1. The multicultural turn in Colombia 40 8. The multiplicity of stakeholders 44 9. Positionality and social position 45 10. Theoretical framework and bodies of literature influencing the research 47 11. Research design 54 11.1. Literature review 54 11.2. Data collection through the use of information requests 54 11.2.1. Information requests concerning the composition of high and 55 intermediate courts 11.2.2. Structure of the Colombian judicial system 56 11.2.3. Purposeful sampling 58 11.2.4. Content of the information requests 61 11.2.5. The rationale for the content the information requests 63 11.2.6. Vetting 68 11.2.7. Information requests’ sending 69 11.3. Information requests concerning group representation in legal 71 education 11.4. Data collection through interviews and site visits 72 11.4.1. Interview process 73 11.4.2. Purposeful sampling 73 11.4.3. Interview’s content 76 11.4.4. The rationale for interview questions 76 11.4.5. Vetting 76 11.4.6. Conducting the interviews 77 11.4.7. Site Visits 78 II. “In Colombia we are all mestizos”: Afro-descendant representation on 79 Colombian courts 1. The judicial activity and institutional problems affecting the judicial system in 79 Colombia 2. Selection mechanisms for magistrates, judges and judicial employees 83 2.1. High court magistrates 84 2.2. Career magistrates, judges, and judicial employees 85 2.3. Provisional and temporary magistrates, judges and judicial employees 88 2.4. Free appointment and removal judicial employees 89 3. The competing narratives on race present at the courts 89 3 3.1. The refusal to acknowledge race and the use of the mestizaje narratives 90 present in the responses to the rights of petition 3.2. The broad acknowledgment of race during the interview process 93 4. Data on the composition of the legal profession 95 4.1. Gender distribution 95 4.2. Ethno-racial distribution 96 4.3. Regional distribution 96 5. Data on the composition Colombian judicial institutions 98 5.1. The composition of the high courts 98 5.1.1. High court magistrates 98 5.1.1.1. Gender composition 99 5.1.1.2. Ethno-racial composition 100 5.1.2. High court auxiliary magistrates 101 5.1.2.1. Gender composition 102 5.1.2.2. Ethno-racial composition 102 5.1.3. Other judicial employees 103 5.1.3.1. Gender composition 103 5.1.3.2. Ethno-racial composition 104 5.1.4. Participants’ perceptions of Afro-descendant and indigenous 104 representation on the high courts 5.1.5. The particularities of the SJP 106 5.2. Data on the composition of intermediate tribunals 109 5.2.1. Superior tribunals of judicial district 109 5.2.1.1. Magistrates 110 5.2.1.1.1. Gender composition 111 5.2.1.1.2. Ethno-racial composition 112 5.2.1.2. Judicial employees 115 5.2.1.2.1. Gender composition 115 5.2.1.2.2. Ethno-racial composition 116 5.2.2. Administrative tribunals 118 5.2.2.1. Magistrates 119 5.2.2.1.1. Gender composition 120 5.2.2.1.2. Ethno-racial composition 121 5.2.2.2. Judicial employees 123 5.2.2.2.1. Gender composition 124 5.2.2.2.2. Ethno-racial composition 125 5.2.3. Data on the general composition of the judiciary 127 5.2.3.1. Magistrates and judges 128 5.2.3.2. Judicial employees 129 5.2.4. Interviewees’ perceptions on the level of Afro-descendant 130 representation in the Colombian judiciary 5.3. Preliminary conclusions 131 6. The impact of geographic location on the composition of judicial institutions in 133 Colombia 6.1. An introduction to the relationship between race and region in Latin 133 America 6.2. Medellín, Antioquia 137 6.3. Quibdó, Chocó 141 6.4. The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina 146 6.5. Cartagena, Bolívar 153 6.6. Cali and Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca 156 4 6.7. Tumaco, Nariño 161 6.8. Analyzing regional differences in the ethno-racial composition of courts in 163 Colombia 6.8.1. Demographic differences among the country’s regions 163 6.8.2. The institutional dependency relations between central and 164 peripherical areas of the country 6.8.3. Regional differences in access to services and structural 165 discrimination 6.8.4. The conflation of racial and regional identities, and the persistence 166 of racial stereotypes 6.8.5. Lack of self-identification among the Afro-descendant population in 166 certain regions 6.8.6. Social mobilization around Afro-descendant representation on courts 167 III. “We need to prove we are capable; despite the fact we are black”: Factors 168 contributing to Afro-descendant underrepresentation on Colombia’s courts and the stratification of the judicial system 1. The statistical invisibility of Afro-descendants 168 2. The overlapping of race and class forms of oppression in the Afro- 174 descendant population 3. Inequalities and difficulties in accessing education and, particularly, higher 180 education 4. The interaction of race- and gender-based forms of oppression 193 4.1. Intersectional race and gender discrimination 194 4.2. Different treatment of race and gender by judicial institutions 197 5. The influence of race, color, and identity 200 6. Inequalities and disparate impacts of judicial selection mechanisms 203 6.1. U.S. literature on judicial selection mechanisms and their impact on 204 women and ethno-racial minorities representation on the judiciary 6.1.1. Federal courts 206 6.1.2. U.S. State Courts 210 6.1.3. Conclusions of the U.S. Literature 215 6.2. Study findings on the impact of judicial selection mechanisms in Afro- 215 descendant representation in Colombian judicial institutions 6.2.1. High court magistrates 216 6.2.2. Career magistrates, judges, and judicial employees 217 6.2.3. Provisional magistrates, judges and judicial employees 222 6.2.4. Free appointment and removal judicial employees 223 7. Racial discrimination within judicial institutions and in the legal profession 225 7.1. Racial discrimination: From the streets to the bench 226 7.2. Presumption of incompetence and the requirement of extra effort 233 7.3. Mechanisms to cope with racial discrimination within the judiciary and 240 the legal profession IV. The foundations of Afro-descendant representation in judicial institutions 243 1. The foundations of ethno-racial and gender representation in judicial 245 institutions 1.1. Role Model Rationales 246 1.2. Altered or improved judicial decision-making rationales 248 1.2.1. The race-ethnicity divide’s effect on the altered 265 decision-making rationales as a foundation for Afro- descendant representation on Colombian courts 1.3. Fairness and legitimacy rationales 271 5 1.4. Equality in access to resources 277 1.5. Preliminary Conclusions 279 2. Empirical evidence on the impact of women and minorities’ representation 281 on judicial decision-making 2.1. Studies concerning the influence of race on judicial decision-making 284 2.2. Studies concerning the influence of gender on judicial decision- 289 making 2.3. Studies concerning the influence of both race and gender on judicial 294 decision-making 2.4. Non-US studies concerning the effects of ethnicity on judicial 300 decision-making 2.5. Preliminary conclusions 301 3. Racial discrimination in the Colombian justice system 302 V. Conclusions, limitations, and recommendations 311 1. Conclusions 311 2. Study limitations 313 3. Recommendations 315 3.1. To researchers 315 3.2. To judicial administrators 316 3.3. To judges and magistrates 317 3.4. To the Afro-descendant social movement 317 3.5. To universities and legal education institutions 317 References 319 6 I. The research project: Making Latin American courts’ racial homogeneity visible 1. Introduction and contribution of the project We live in an increasingly diverse world. At the turn of the 21st century, over 5,000 ethnic groups made a presence in over 180 independent states.1 Some countries have tried to respond to the challenge of diverse populations by enacting laws and public policies to accommodate minorities and unprivileged majorities into political institutions.2 However, socio-political conflict and exclusion continue to be significant threats to subordinated groups and democracies around the world.3 Like most countries in Latin America, Colombia is a highly diverse country in ethno-racial terms.