2013 Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 Indicators of Practice, Process and Resolution within cases of Child Sexual Assault International Justice Mission 08/14/2013 1 IJM Guatemala – Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 Indicators of Practice, Process and Resolution within Cases of Child Sexual Assault 2 IJM Guatemala – Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 International Justice Mission © 2013 11 calle 3-38, Zona 1. Guatemala City, Guatemala. PBX: 2463-5550 FAX: 2463-5594 www.ijm.org, [email protected] Guatemalan Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012: Indicators of Practice, Process, and Resolution within Cases of Child Sexual Assault Guatemala, July 2013 Contents: 1.Introduction and background; 2. Methodology; 3. Key findings: SICOMP data analysis, 2008-2012,Study of cases of Child Sexual Assault in three provinces; 4. Conclusions; 5. Recommendations; 6. Annexes. IJM TEAM-GUATEMALA Directors Brad Twedt Jessica Ortiz Vinicio Zuquino Coordinator of the study Cindi Mazariegos de Suárez Investigation and analysis Jennifer Herrera Katherine Camacho CONSULTANTS Legal Investigators Iracema Palacios Franco Ralf Santino Coello Reyes Mario Morales José Baudilio Sis Sis Database and analysis of quantitative indicators Nancy Anely Zurita Villagrán Erick Valenzuela Leal Alejandro Letona Figueroa Ana Lucia Monterroso González Dulce Amor de María Del Valle Muñoz Report drafting Efraín Estuardo Sánchez (Principal Consultant) Mildred Flores Yohana Saenz Interns from Rafael Landívar University Ligia Vásquez María Fernanda Oliva Melanie Hernández Volunteer from the USA Greg Lowden Translator: Mayra Urízar de Ramírez Council of experts Francisco de Matta Vela Hilda Morales Trujillo José Amílcar Velásquez Zárate Rubén Eliú Higueros Girón Leticia Stella Secaira Pinto Marilys Barrientos de Estrada Rocío Mezquita Sánchez Technical consultants (IJM’s Headquarters, Washington D.C., USA) Pablo Villeda, Regional Operations Director, Latin America Andee Cooper Parks, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist Anna Pienaar, Regional Program Manager, Latin America This study and its publication was carried out with funding from International Justice Mission, Washington D.C. To be cited as: Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012: Indicators of Practice, Process and Resolution within Cases of Child Sexual Assault (2013) 3 IJM Guatemala – Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 Acknowledgements Thousands of children are victims of sexual violence in Guatemala today. IJM Guatemala has been able to expose this reality through the help of people who have walked many extra miles to support the completion of this study. IJM Guatemala thanks the Judicial Branch (OJ) and the Public Ministry (MP) for opening the doors of government institutions to us. We are also grateful to be able to provide a voice for the voiceless, as this information reveals the truth of children’s experience within the criminal justice system (CJS). We thank the officials, secretaries and judges from the courts of Guatemala, Quetzaltenango and Alta Verapaz for supporting IJM staff and consultants during the process of locating the case files analyzed in this study. IJM Guatemala thanks the Information System Control from the Public Ministry (SICOMP) personnel and the Center for National Analysis and Judicial Documentation (CENADOJ) for their contribution to this study. IJM Guatemala also thanks the participants of the Council of Experts, for reflecting on and validating the information, and for being willing to share their knowledge and ideals for a nation that administers justice. We dedicate this report to the many young heroes who have had the courage to face giants. With the help of altruistic professionals, these brave children have defeated the culture of silence and are now seeking hope and justice. This report is also dedicated — with both sadness and hope— to all those children who have suffered sexual violence. Their stories have created both the awareness needed to understand this problem and the motivation needed to fight for justice and peace in Guatemala. “And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” (Isaiah 32:17). 4 IJM Guatemala – Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 PRESENTATION International Justice Mission (IJM) Guatemala presents the main findings obtained in the Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 to the criminal justice system (CJS) institutions, to non-governmental organizations that focus on children, to investigators, universities and interested individuals in the issue of child sexual assault (CSA) in Guatemala. Data and legal files present a horrific picture of the reality of violence perpetrated against children in Guatemala. The files examined in this study correspond to real cases, lived by children and adolescent victims, who have suffered sexual assault and been traumatized. The children were then left to face a judicial system that was not designed to accommodate them. This investigation attempts to support the existing efforts of the CJS to treat child victims with dignity. The report is organized as follows: Section 1 provides an introduction to the social context of the study: the normative and institutional, focusing on violence suffered by children and adolescents caused by sexual crimes and the intervention of the penal system; Section 2 focuses on the analysis of the situational state of the penal process while giving attention to these cases. The study determines tendencies or approximations based on available data and indicators from the processes and resolution, as well as the interpretation and the baseline generation. The report’s analysis of legal regulations and their application reveals the levels of bureaucracy present within the CJS, as well as the lack of knowledge of the issues involved in cases where minors are victims. Example of this are: the low number of complaints that result in a verdict; the considerable delay in the investigation; and the number of professionals who approach the child during the criminal process. To support the main findings, the methodology also includes additional analysis by experts and officials from the public prosecutor’s office, the Public Ministry (MP) and the Judicial Branch (OJ). This exercise ensured transparency and validated the process of analysis and interpretation of the data. These conclusions and recommendations are focused on promoting the development of public policies to prevent children from becoming victims of sexual crimes. Moreover, they promote the implementation of policies in the criminal justice institutions to encourage proper treatment of minor victims of sexual crimes. Finally, these conclusions aim to apply international tools, which have been ratified by the State of Guatemala and which guarantee the rights of children. In spite of the limitations and obstacles that are a national reality, this study makes it possible to appreciate that there are NGOs and justice system officials that are making significant efforts to improve the service provided to the population. We hope that the results of this study allow everyone, wherever they are, to join in, to prevent, to protect and to assist children who are victims of these crimes. Brad Curtis Twedt National Director Guatemala - IJM 5 IJM Guatemala – Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012 Contents Index i. Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................. 9 ii. Glossary ..............................................................................................................................................10 iii. Executive Summary ..........................................................................................................................14 1. Introduction and Background ..............................................................................................................16 1.1. Condition of Children in Guatemala .......................................................................................16 1.2. The Criminal Justice System in Guatemala .......................................................................................19 1.3. Sexual assault and other forms of violence against minors in Guatemala ...................................21 1.4. International and national normative framework for human rights of children. ........................22 1.5. The Criminal Procedure in Guatemala ..............................................................................................24 1.6. Institutional framework of CJS entities .............................................................................................25 1.7. IJM’s program response and study aims .................................................................................30 1.8. Baseline study timeline ...............................................................................................................31 2. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................33 2.1. Analysis of SICOMP data at a national level, 2008-2012 ...............................................................33