Does Court Efficiency have a Deterrent Effect on Crime - inesad

inhabitants with a reliable and credible judicial system. According to Kauffman’s governanceindicators, Costa Rica is among the highest ranked Latin American countries in the Rule of LawIndex. 4 In addition, the Judiciary is composed of 17 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, placing thecountry among the highest in the region for this indicator.Despite the fact that Costa Rica has good governance indicators in comparison with otherLatin American countries, its judicial system has a high incidence of backlogs and congestion incourts that impede effective access to justice. At the beginning of the 1990’s, an ordinarycommercial or civil case could take up to seven years, and a simple executive judgment aroundthree years. 5 The potential causes of this inefficiency were attributed to the centralization of theadministrative operations in San Jose, the lack of technology for administering resources, theformalism of judicial procedures, the inefficiency of the judicial offices and the lack of knowledgeon behalf of the judges.As consequence, Costa Rica embarked on a judicial reform process that had broad supportfrom different political actors such as the state powers, the private sector and civil society. Theobjective of this reform was to enhance access to justice and its efficiency, and mostly consisted ofthe following elements: the introduction of oral processes in criminal cases, the implementation ofnew criminal procedure, the adoption of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, theestablishment of unique case numbers across different actors in the criminal system, theimplementation of information technology and administrative changes in the management ofcourts, including the creation of “mega-offices” which centralized many back office andadministrative functions.In 1973, the country adopted hybrid (oral and written) procedures in criminal cases. Thenew system divided the process into two stages: the instruction and the oral and public trial. Thischange in the judicial process from written to oral procedure promoted judicial transparency andefficiency. In 1998, a new Criminal Procedure Code was also implemented that restructured theadministration of the Judiciary and the Public Ministry, transferring the functions of investigationand prosecution of crimes to the latter.Another central component of reform was the implementation of the Law for AlternativeConflict Resolution Mechanisms, which included arbitration and conciliation as alternative ways forsolving conflicts. This law was especially important in the case of Costa Rica, where citizenstraditionally resort to courts in order to solve many conflicts that do not need to be assessed byjudges, causing a high rate of litigiousness, congestion and a negative public perception about theadministration of justice.4 The same results are found with the indexes: Voice and Accountability, Political and Stability, andGovernment <strong>Effect</strong>iveness.5 Inter American Development Bank (1994). “Proposal for a loan for the modernization of theadministration of justice ”