EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

COSTA RICA JUSTICE SECTOR ASSESSMENT

CENTER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICEFLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

February, 1987San Jose, Costa Rica

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I . Background

On March 22, 1986, the Agency for International Development(AID) awarded a grant to the Instituto Latinoamericano deNaciones Unidas para la Prevencion del Delito y el Tratamientodel Delincuente (ILANUD) to carry out a regional project designedto improve the administration of justice in five countries (CostaRica, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic) .

Due to a lack of empirically reliable data for the CentralAmerican justice sector, the project included a component of five"sector assessments" to be carried out in the participatingcountries . Florida International University (FIU) was chosen tocarry out these assessments and a cooperative agreement wasentered into between that institution and AID .

The ILANUD Regional Project includes funding for limitednational activities in each country prior to the completion of asector assessment, which then would provide the basis for morefocused and integrated projects, including bilateral assistanceprograms between AID missions and national governments . Both tofacilitate interim assistance by ILANUD and to develop supportfor the carrying out of sector assessments, ILANUD and RAJO havepromoted and encouraged the formation of a national commissionfor the improvement of the administration of justice in eachparticipating country .

The Costa Rican Commission was established by executivedecree in late 1985 . Its membership consists of representativesof the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Procuraduria,the Bar Association, the National Assembly, and the University ofCosta Rica Law Faculty for a total of 32 members . The SupremeCourt has provided a technical coordinator in the person of aSuperior Criminal Court judge on leave of absence . The Commissionhas met frequently and high level officials have consistentlyparticipated .

The FIU-Costa Rica study team together with ILANUDrepresentatives and the AID Regional Administration of JusticeAdvisor (RAJA), met with the Commission, presented the studymethodology and kept them advised of progress . Several former andcurrent high government officials have been involved in the studyprocess . Luis Paulino Mora, currently Minister of Justice andformerly a Supreme Court Magistrate, was on leave from the Courtduring a six month period immediately prior to his currentappointment serving as ILANUD's Director of Technical Assistance .Eugenia Zamora, currently Vice Minister of Justice, waspreviously Deputy Director of FIU's Center for the Administrationof Justice in Costa Rica . Carlos Jose Gutierrez, former ForeignMinister and ex-Dean of the UCR Law Faculty, served as principaltechnical advisor to ILANUD prior to his current appointment asCosta Rica's ambassador to the United Nations . He was also one ofthe principal consultants in the drafting of the Costa Rican

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assessment . Hugo Munoz, immediate past Minister of Justice andcurrent legal advisor to the National Assembly, also served aConsultant to the Project .

II . Nethodoloay

A) The objectives of the sector assessments are several : 1)to provide enough baseline data for appropriate planning andevaluation of the ILANUD project ; 2) to assist the participatingcountries in planning of their justice sector ; 3) to provide thebasic information for the development of bilateral assistanceagreements between the participating countries and the respectiveUSAID missions .

Since sector assessments had never been carried out in theadministration of justice sector, FIU, in consultation with AIDLAC/AJDD, took several preliminary steps in developing anappropriate methodology for these studies . Professor JosephThome, a Costa Rican-American law professor at the University ofWisconsin with significant prior experience in AID law-relatedprojects in Latin America, was employed to develop a proposedmethodology . This methodology was discussed preliminarilly withAID officials in Washington and at a July, 1985 meeting of LatinAmerican and US experts convened under ILANUD auspices in SanJose, Costa Rica . The recommendations were considered andincorporated into the methodology .

Because it appeared to present optimum conditions at thetime, Panama was selected for the initiation of a pilot sectorassessment, which began in July of 1985 . Costa Rica was selectedas the next study site and in anticipation of the Costa Ricastudy, the proposed director was incorporated into the planningand development of the Panama study . The Costa Rican study beganin January of 1986 .

Due to the political sensitivity of the theme and our desireto promote the maximum commitment of national justice sectorleaders and key academics in each country, the following staffingphilosophy was adopted : 1) primary reliance would be placed onnational experts and those from other Latin American countries ;2) to the extent possible, surveys and field work would beperformed by local law students or recent law graduates to helpbuild a base of informed individuals who could later work in thejustice sector ; 3) AID and ILANUD would have substantialinvolvement in the design, development and overall coordinationof each study ; 4) in addition to the central focus of the ILANUDproject (i .e ., the courts, prosecutors and defenders), the policeand correctional systems would also be studied in order to depicttheir relationship to the judicial function . Nevertheless, theCosta Ricans were made aware from the outset that the police andcorrectional systems are not eligible for assistance under theAID Regional Administration of Justice Project .

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Dr . Enrique Castillo, a criminal law expert and thendirector of postgraduate studies at the University of Costa RicaLaw School (recently named ambassador to France), was selected asthe Costa Rican study coordinator and an interdisciplinary staffconsisting of fifteen professionals (8 attorneys, 3statisticians, 1 economist, 1 sociologist, 1 political scientist,and 1 specialist in library science) was organized . Two foreignconsultants (from Spain) were used to assist in the police study .Additionally, thirty-two law students were employed by theproject during different stages .

The study consisted of the following stages :

1) Team development . Due to the empirical orientation of theresearch, a considerable amount of time was devoted totraining the study team for survey and field work anddiscussing the appropriateness of the methodology to thenational situation ;

2) Literature search . Due to the manner of cataloging andthe diverse locations of bibliographic materials, this taskconsumed a substantial amount of time, but resulted in thecollection of the first complete Costa Rican juridicalbibliography, consisting of 2,500 entries .

3) Data gathering . Students were utilized in gatheringempirical data from diverse sources . In some cases it wasdiscovered that existing data were unusable as kept, forpurposes of the study . In such cases data sources were usedto reorganize the information or to adapt it to the study'sneeds .

4) Legal framework . In order to fully understand the justiceprocess, additional legal consultants were employed toproduce an orderly description of the national proceduraland substantive legal framework .

5) Opinion surveys . To complement the empirical datacomprehensive set of surveys were conducted in order todetermine Costa Rican perceptions of and experiences withthe justice system . The surveys were as follows : 1) nationalhouseholds (950) ; 2) judges at all levels (133) ; 3)prosecutors (32) ; 4) public defenders (39) ; 5) lawyers(182) ; 6) inmates at penal institutions (325) . At therequest of local officials some of the surveys wereexpanded .

6) Proposed Justice Sector Analyses Report . This report wasdrafted in coordination with the regional FIU team, wasreviewed by the Regional Administrator of Justice Advisor,and was presented for review to USAID/Costa Rica and ILANUDin September of 1986 .

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7) Review b USAID/Costa, Rica, ILANUD and NationalOfficials . All of the foregoing are reviewed the draft ofthe Justice Sector Analysis . To facilitate review by CostaRican official Dr . Hugo Munoz, immediate past Minister ofJustice, was retained to coordinate the presentation anddiscussion of relevant study portions to high governmentofficials whose agencies cooperated with the study under theprevious administration . The purpose was twofold : first, toobtain feedback, corrections and additional input ; second,to engage the current officials in the sector assessmentprocess . Upon receipt of the feedback from the reviewingentities the final draft of the Justice Sector Analysis wascompleted .

8) Action Recommendation Workshop . A workshop, held at theCariari Hotel in San Jose, on January 9 and 10, 1987,cosponsored by the Costa Rican National Commission for theImprovement of the Administration of Justice and ILANUD, wasthe vehicle for the analysis of the final report and theproduction of recommendations for action . Actionrecommendations included new or revised legislation, newtraining or educational curricula, administrativereorganization of existing agencies, new equipment andfacilities, and new information and management systems .Depending upon the action desired, the workshop indicatedthe government or international agency to respond . Care wastaken not to raise the expectation with any Costa Ricanofficial that AID assistance would automatically flow fromthis process . ILANUD and Costa Rican officials have beeninformed that AID would study the recommendations of theworkshop to determine whether any of them fit USAID/CostaRica programming priorities .

III . Administration of Justice and Socio-PoliticalDevelopment .

Costa Rica covers an area of 51,900 square kilometers andhas a population of 2 .46 millions inhabitants . The officiallanguage is Spanish . The population is predominantly white,descendants of Spaniards and other European settles . Ninety fivepercent of the population is Roman Catholic . The economy of thecountry depends principally on coffee, banana, meat and sugar .It's trading partners are principally the United State, theEuropean Economic community (especially West Germany) and Japan .The monetary unit is the colon .

The 1949 Constitution establishes the traditional divisionof powers between three branches of government : the Legislative,Executive and Judicial, as well as a fourth autonomous power tobe exercised by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, charged withresponsibility for all electoral matters . In addition, there area number of autonomous institutions of government subordinated to

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the Executive Branch . Presidential and Legislative elections takeplace every four years .

The governmental and juridical organization of Costa Ricaflows directly from the Spanish colonial system, in particularfrom the Constitution of Cadiz of 1812, a pivotal point inSpanish legal history, a central feature of which is the autonomyof the judicial branch .

The major concern of the liberal politicians and lawyers whoguided the construction and consolidation of the Costa Ricanstate during the 19th century, as well as of the increasinglyinfluential coffee growers (who drove the growth of theagricultural export economy between 1830-1930) was to guarantee astable and durable public order based on a citizenry capable oftaking part via the electoral process and open public debate inthe legitimation and improvement of government institutions .

Promotion of internal security and the control of socialconflicts so that the latter would not impede economic growth orescalate into civil war or open class confrontation was aconstant concern of 19th century Costa Rican ruling classes . Thiseffort was of particular concern to the jurists, politicians,teachers and writers called the "Generation of Olympus" and whoseinfluence after 1888 contributed decisively to the development ofmodern Costa Rican society .

Their particular successes were : a) the consolidation of alegally based system of public powers with defined and strictdivisions and jurisdictions ; b) a juridical structuredistinguished from previous ones by its more pronouncedorderliness and integration (though still characterized in partby the custom of copying major foreign codes and legislatingwithout significant prior study) ; c) an administration g justicewith better possibilities for stabilizing and prof essionalizingits functioning based upon the consensus that produced theConstitution of 1871, a cornerstone of the renewed juridicalstructure ; d) a democratic culture, progressively more pronouncedand focusing on a respect for liberty, human life, property andindividual security, the inhibition and control of the use ofviolence and the prohibition of the death penalty and torture . Atthe same time a high value was placed on the creation of a systemof compulsory public education which would serve as the basis fora citizenry of free men ; d) a juridical ideology_ which firmlydefended the role of the judge as an impartial decision-maker insocial conflicts and as supreme authority within a judicialbranch which progressively became more autonomous in the exerciseof its powers, more differentiated from other instruments ofsocial control, and more capable of guaranteeing justicethroughout the national territory,

The system, as developed during the late 19th century,remained largely unchanged until the middle of the 20th when the

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society began to experience severe social conflicts in thethirties and early forties . After 1940, new sectors of societybegan to achieve greater power and influence . The worker-artisanclass and an urban middle class provided the impulse for theintroduction, through a series of legal reforms, of significantlyincreased social security measures . Many of these wereincorporated in the Labor Code of 1943, considered very advancedfor its time .

After the short civil war of 1948, primarily the result ofelectoral conflicts, Costa Rican justice became more attentive tothe needs of the weaker sectors of society . Reform efforts cameto fruition in the Constitution of 1949 which abolished the army,nationalized a number of private institutions, established theSupreme Electoral Tribunal as a fourth branch of government, andset forth the basis for the modern Costa Rican state .

The Constitution also had great impact on Costa Ricanjudicial development . The term of Supreme court magistrates wasextended from four to eight years, and their removal from officewas made almost impossible by the requirement of a vote of two-thirds of the National Assembly for removal upon the expirationof the first eight year term (only two eight year terms areallowed) . one of the most important achievements of the 1949Constitution was the transfer of jurisdiction to the judiciary ofnumerous legal matters previously in the hands of administrativeor police officials . The Supreme Court was explicitly chargedwith exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional challenges oflegislative acts . The judicial review of executive actions wasestablished as a means for review of the legality ofadministrative actions, and the traditional right of habeascorpus was expanded with the addition of the right of amparo . TheSupreme Court also received the power to name the members of theSupreme Electoral Tribunal . In addition, the position of thejudiciary was strengthened by the constitutional requirementthat, when considering legislation referring to the organizationor operation of the Judicial Branch, the Judiciary must beconsulted and that a 2/3 vote of the National Assembly isrequired to override judicial objections .

In 1963, the financial independence of the Judicial branchwas guaranteed through a constitutional amendment requiring that6% of the national budget be assigned them .

Since 1949, _a series of new Codes have been passed such as :the sanitation (Health) Code (1949) ; the Electoral Code (1951) ;the Mining Code (1953) ; the Commercial Code (1964) ; the PenalCode (1971) ; the Tax Code (1971) ; the Family Code (1972) and theCode of Criminal Procedure (1978) . At this time, there arebefore the Legislature for approval a new Code of Civil Procedureas well as changes to the Criminal Code . It is important to notethat in 1976 the Civil Code underwent a series of importantchanges .

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IV . Institution and Aqencies Participating in the JusticeSystem

A . The Legislative Assembly_

The single-chamber, fifty seven member Legislative Assembly,is charged with lawmaking, with the appointment of judges in theJudicial Branch and with creating new courts in the country .

The Assembly is divided into six permanent committees ofwhich three (the Budget Committee, the Committee for SocialAffairs and the Committee for Judiciary Affairs) have a closerelationship with the Administration of Justice System .

The legislative process has several steps : a) The proposedpiece of legislation must first be presented to the appropriateCommittee, where it is studied and amended ; b) once the bill isdischaged from Committee it is presented to the full Assembly fordebate, which must take place on three consecutive days ; c) ifpassed by the Assembly, the legislation is forwarded to theExecutive so that it may be signed (or vetoed as the case may be)by the President and the Cabinet Minister who has jurisdictionover the subject matter touched upon by the legislation .

The overall output of the Legislative Branch has diminishedconsiderable in the current decade, if compared to the previousone, although legislation pertinent to budgeting matters hasincreased significantly . In the last few years, the Legislaturehas been slow in dealing with matters concerning the passing oflaws in the administration of justice sector .

By the same taken, the survey results indicate that thepopulation feels that the laws passed by the Assembly with regardto the Administration of Justice are not realistic and that thereis little knowledge or understanding of the laws in effect inthis area, making adequate use of the system by the affectedpopulation difficult .

B . Executive Branch .

Among the functions of the Executive, those related directlyto the justice system are : the power to pardon convictedcriminals ; organization of police forces to maintain public orderand national sovereignty ; and, approval or veto of laws emanatingfrom the National Assembly, whether based on politicaldisagreement or constitutionality . Nevertheless, the functioningof the Executive Branch is limited by the judicial oversight ofthe legality of its acts .

The Executive Branch consists of the President of theRepublic, two Vice-Presidents, and a Council of Government, madeup of the eighteen Cabinet ministers . The following ministriesare related to the administration of justice : a) The Ministry of

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Justice, charged with serving as the formal link between theExecutive and Judicial branches, with additional responsibilityfor maintaining the correctional system . Also within thestructure of this Ministry is the Procuraduria General de laRepublica, the highest legal government office, to which isentrusted the defense of the State in all judicial proceedings ;b) the Ministries of Public Security, Government and Police, andPublic Works and Transportation, all of which carry out policefunctions ; c) The Ministry of the Treasury (Hacienda) which playsa major role in the preparation of all government budgets(including that of the Judiciary) prior to submission to theNational Assembly .

The Executive Branch also exercises legislative facultiesthrough decrees and regulations, which process is itselfregulated by the "Ley General de la Administracion Publica"(General Law for the Public Administration) . The draft decreesigned by a particular Minister is forwarded to the "Oficina deLeyes y Decretos de la Presidencia de la Republica" (Office ofthe President for Laws and Decrees), which reviews it and sendsit to the President for his signature and subsequent publication .

The output on matters relating to the administration ofjustice by those ministries most involved with this sector(Ministries of Justice, Interior and Public Safety) isinsignificant . In the period 1980 to June 1986, the threeministries only produced an average of 9 .69 decrees per year onmatters pertaining to the administration of justice .

V . The Justice System .

A . Police

The Constitution of 1949 abolished the army as aninstitution in Costa Rica allowing only for the establishement ofpolice forces, under civil authority, necessary to maintain thepublic order and the national sovereignty .

In accordance with this mandate there are nine policeagencies :

1) The Agency for Judicial Investigation (Organismo deInvestigacion Judicial - OIJ), which has traditional policefunctions and which comes under the Judicial Branch ;

2) The National Security and Intelligence Directorate(Direccion de Inteligencia y Seguridad Nacional - DIS),whose functions are to control subversive activities andwhich carries out its activities under the Office of thePresident .

3) Under the Ministry of Public Safety there are :

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a) The Civil Guard (the Guardia Civil), in charge ofmaintaining National sovereignty .

b) The Metropolitan Police (Policia Metropolitana), amotorized force which duties are to patrol the capitalcity .

c) Agency for the Prevention of Crime (Unidad dePrevencion del Delito), whose duties are selfexplanatory in its name .

d) General Direction for Drug Control (DireccionGeneral de Control de Drogas), whose mandate iscontained in its title .

4) Rural Assistance Guard (Guardia de Asistencia Rural),whose functions are to maintain the public order in ruralareas .

5) Migration Police (Policia de Migracion), in charge ofissues pertaining to the status of foreignors and whichcarries out its duties under the Ministry of the Interior andPolice .

6) The Transit Police (Policia de Transito), in charge ofvehicular traffic in the country, operating under theMinistry of Public Works and Transportation .

One of the mayor problems of the Costa Rican police is theproliferation of police agencies and a lack of coordinationbetween them which leads to overapping duties, responsibilitiesand jurisdictions . The Constitution of 1949 eliminated the armybut not those functions which are normaly carried out by armiesin other countries . This has led to a hybrid police force, as itperforms functions incumbent both to a civilian police force anda paramilitary agency . Only the Agency for JudicialInvestigations, (OIJ), created in 1974, has a legal structuremore in keeping with the reality in which it must function . Thislack of a clear legal framework for the police agencies has ledto police appointments being used as sinecures, with theresulting lack of professional standards .

Although the budget for the police agencies accounts for atotal of 8,420 police officers (3 .48 officers per 1,000inhabitants) the directors of the various agencies stated thatthe official figure is below the real number of agents . Despitethe higher number of police officers than those recognized by thebudget, the percentage of the budget allocated to the policeagencies has decreased from from 5 .60% in 1981 to 4 .50% in 1986 .

Except for the OIJ and the Transit Police, the differentpolice agencies lack adequate facilities, motor vehicles(approximatly 50% are unable to be used), weapons (one weapon for

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each 2-3 officers) and ammunition (weapons often are carried withlittle or no ammunition available) .

Nevertheless, despite all of these shartcomings, thepopulation groups surveyed agreed that the Costa Rican police wascharacterized by friendly and cooperative behavior .

B) Public Ministry (Ministerio Publico) (Prosecutors)

The Public Ministry is charged with the prosecution ofessentially all persons accused of a crime in Costa Rica . Unlikeother Central American countries, the Costa Rican Public Ministryis located within the Judicial Branch even though it actsautonomously in its prosecutorical function .

The survey conducted among prosecutors show that they carrylarge caseloads, with an average per year of 246 .75 cases .Prosecutors tend to be young, with an average age of 30 years,and 49% are women, making this agency within the Judicial Branchthe one with the largest number of women . Salaries forprosecutors range from 51,000 to 56,000 colones per month,slightly higher than those paid public defenders .

Except for occasional, short, continuing-education coursesor conferences sponsored by ILANUD, there are no professionaltraining courses offered the members of the prosecuting agency .

Budget support for the prosecuting agency has improvedsignificantly since 1983 due to salary readjustments approved theJudicial Branch in that year . Physical plants facilities arealso reasonable adequate as they are provided by the JudicialBranch . Unfortunatly, there is a real dearth of books and moderntechnological developments available, as well as of motorvehicles, which means certain urgent matters are not attendedpromply . Prosecutors also indicated a need for greaterbibliographic resources . These needs are currently beingaddressed, in part, by the donation of a basic library to theSupreme Court through the ILANUD Project . The establishment of ajuridical database encompassing all Costa Rican legislation,doctrine and jurisprudence, contemplated under the ILANUDProject, will also help address this need .

The Public Ministry, because of its assigned functions,maintains close ties with the courts and the Agency for JudicialInvestigation (OIJ) as well as, by legal disposition, with theJudiciary, the General Accounting Office (Contraloria) and theCentral Bank .

C) Public Defenders .

Costa Rica, unlike other Central American countries, fullycomplies with the constitutional guarantee of a free publicdefense for every person accused of a crime, irrespective of

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financial need . There are 49 full time and 32 half time publicdefenders and, as needed, attorneys are retained and paid by thecase . Like their prosecutorical counterparts, the Office of thePublic Defender is also under the Judicial Branch with a budgetalmost equivalent to that of the Public Ministry . Caseloads areheavy, with a full time public defender attending an average of375 cases per year and a part time around 200 in the same periodof time . The median age is 31 and about 44% are women .

There are no regular training courses for public defendersexcept for infrequent in-house seminars sponsored by thedepartment itself . Last year, ILANUD sponsored a special course .

The base salary for public defenders is 51,645 colones,slightly lower than that paid prosecutors .

D)Attorneys .

The Costa Rican Bar Association is one of the oldest suchgroups in the region, membership being a requirement for legalpractice . There is no bar examination requirement for entry andthe organization requires only that the applicant be admitted topractice by the Supreme Court, routinely done upon graduationfrom law school .

Regulation of the profession is exercised through theAssociation's Ethics Committee which reviews complaints againstlawyers and recommends disciplinary action . The Association isalso influential in regulating fees charged by lawyers . TheMinistry of Justice regularly issues decrees which set theminimum fees which lawyers may charge . It is then theresponsibility of the Ethics Committee to assure compliancethrough its disciplinary process .

Those are nearly 3,000 attorneys in Costa Rica of whichabout 86 .8% have their law offices in San Jose . This breaks downto about 5 .46% lawyer per 1,000 inhabitants . About 25% of thelawyers work in the public sector and of the 75% that work in theprivate sector the great majority litigate .

The Bar Association operates a number of continuing legaleducation programs but these have not been characterized bythorough planning or coordination with other sectors of thejustice system .

At the core of any justice system is the basic educationwhich the legal profession receives prior to entry into thepractice of law . The major Costa Rican law school is situated atthe University of Costa Rica . Due to severe restrictions on thenumber of law students accepted by the UCR, four other lawschools have been established under the umbrella of the UACA(Universidad Autonoma Centroamericana), a private university .These are considered less rigorous and are less well regarded .

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Legal education in Costa Rica is undergoing a criticalperiod . It is characterized by : 1) a lack of adequate fundinglevels ; 2) part-time faculty ; 3) a lecture system of education ;4) poor library resources, with budget restrictions causing thecollection to remain outdated .

Through the ILANUD Project, the UCR Law School receives AIDscholarship assistance for its postgraduate legal programs(specializations in Agrarian, Public, Penal and InternationalLaw) . This assistance however, is not aimed at strengthening theentire institution and the postgraduate programs are viewed bysome as drains on the undergraduate legal program .

The Law School plays a minor role in continuing legaleducation . The law faculty has almost no involvement in trainingprograms for justice personnel . They are notably absent, forexample, from the police academies, even though legal courses areoffered to recruits .

Research into problems affecting the justice sector is alsonotably absent from the law school environment . Curriculatypically concentrates on traditional legal topics with littleattention devoted to social sciences or administration issuesaffecting the justice system .

E)Courts .

The Judicial Branch exercises its judicial role throughfour court levels, which are, in descending order :

a . The Supreme Court composed of 17 magistrates inthree divisions, and elected by the National Assemblyto eight year terms, renewable for a second likeperiod) exercises administrative and judicial controlover this Branch ;

b . The Superior Tribunals, each made up of three judgesappointed by the Supreme Court, hear all civil andcertain criminal appeals and act as sole instance trialcourts for crimes in which the penalty exceeds threeyears .

c . The Juzgados are one judge courts, these judge alsobeing appointed by the Supreme Court . They are chargedwith investigation of crimes and the hearing of casesof a criminal nature carrying potential maximumsentences of less than three years .

d . Alcaldias are one judge courts and handle minorlegal matters .

Both the Public Ministry and the Office of the PublicDefender are also within the Judicial Branch .

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While there is no judicial career law that guaranteesjudicial stability, the Court, by regulation, has established aninternal mechanism with all the characteristics of a civilservice system . This personnel system is applicable to allemployees of the Judicial Branch, with the exception of the OIJ,and provides an adequate system regulating entry, promotions andstability of employees .

There is a large administrative apparatus which overseesoperation of the Judicial Branch with all the characteristics ofa formal court administration process . Its greatest deficiencylies in lack of planning and evaluation with no office or processguaranteeing this function .

The Judicial Statistics Office centralizes all statisticsproduced by the Judicial Branch, but there is little awarenessamong judges or OIJ personnel as to the purpose or benefits of astatistical system . It is sorely in need of automation to allowfor more timely production and analysis .

One of the areas of greatest need, as expressed by all ofthe surveys conducted, is training for judges . While a JudicialSchool was created by the Court to provide training of itspersonnel, it has provided only rudimentary entry-level trainingto administrative functionaries, and has seldom offered similarprograms to judges, prosecutors, public defenders or higher leveladministrators .

The independence of the Judicial System is guaranteed notonly by the constitution and other legislation but also throughthe political support of constituent groups (ie . lawyers) . Theconstitution guarantees the Judicial Branch approximately 6% ofthe national budget, making it one of the best financed courtsystems in Latin America . Recent legislative charges, however,placing certain entities within the Judicial Branch (OIJ, PublicMinistry, Public Defenders) produce a considerable drain onfinancial resources of this Branch .

All proposed legislation affecting the Supreme Court must besubmitted to it for consultation and should it submit objections,a 2/3 Assembly vote is needed to overside their apposition .

This notion of judicial independence rests on a strictinterpretation of the concept of separation of powers . Whilerespect for this autonomy has guaranteed the development of thissector, the Court's sometimes exaggerated interpretation of itsindependence has served to isolate it from the other subsectorsof the justice system and possibly from the population . Theirinterpretation of separation of powers has led the judiciary toavoid relations with the other sectors of the justice system evenin coordinating basic operational needs . The Statistical Office,

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for example, does not cooperate with similar offices in theExecutive . This also occurs between the other police agencies andthe OIJ .

One of the justice sector's severest problems is growingcaseloads and their effect on the speed of the judicial process .While it has long been one of the countries in the region withthe lowest number of inmates awaiting trial, this number isgrowing due to the strains of continually rising caseloads .

Judges indicated a need for greater bibliographic resources,a need which has been partially addressed by the donation of abasic legal library to the Court by the ILANUD Project .

F) Correctional System .

The Costa Rican correctional system is administered by theDireccion General de Adaptacion Social, under the Ministry ofJustice .

It has emphasized development of a treatment model whichrests on a progressive system of benefits and sanctions dependingon the behavior of the inmate . The administrative component ofthe system has been sorely neglected .

Survey results show that lawyers, system functionaries andthe general population believe that the system does not achieveits goals of rehabilitation of the criminal offender and hisadaptation to society . At the same time, the above mentionedsurveyed groups feel that the state should re-evaluate theobjectives of the system and possibly redefine new objectives .

Although inmates are desatisfied with various aspects ofprison life (poor toilet faculties, food that is not nutritious,few work opportunities etc,) they expressed satisfaction with theeducational programs (at the elementary, secondary and universitylevels), recreation activities, and conyugal visits .

The current Minister of Justice has emphasized correctionalreform as one of his priorities . He has suggested several areasin which assistance could be beneficially directed, including :

a . An evaluation of the administrative system leadingto its reorganization .

b . A study of the system's capacity to generateresources . The correctional system has large areas ofproductive land and various factories . In the past theyhave often been left idle or used as makeworkfacilities . Introduction of modern business techniquesnot only could make this system economically self-sufficient but also provide an excellent means for jobtraining of inmates . For example, organization of

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production cooperatives in which the inmates would haveparticipation in the administration and marketing ofgoods, as well as share in their profits is feasible .

As of January 1986, Administrative and technical personel fallwithin the Civil Service which gives these employees laborstability .

G . The Criminal, Process .

This section examines Costa Rica's criminal procedure, whichis increasingly reliant on oral hearings rather than on thetraditional civil law written process .

Criminal Procedure in Costa Rica is characterized by itsstrong adherence to "due process" requirements such as theprivilege against self-incrimination, the prohibition ofdefendants being held incommunicado, the right to counsel, theright to a public trial, and fixed periods for the completion ofthe different procedural stages .

The nature and severity of the offense determines the typeof proceeding to be followed, including who may bring theprosecution . For the majority of serious crimes, the prosecutionis brought by the Public Ministry and the process is divided intoseveral distinct phases .

The purpose of the preliminary phase of the criminalproceeding is to determine if a crime was committed, and theperson to be charged for that act . The agency which receives thecriminal complaint must being it before competent judicialauthorities, including the prosecutor, within 24 hours ofreceipt . (Recent figures show a slight growth in the rate ofcriminality with 35,563 complaints for serious crimes being filedlast year ; by the same taken, one out of every four complaints isdismissed by the Judge of Instruction) . Once the complaint isreceived this investigatory stage is directed by theinstructional judge (investigating magistrate) who may order aseries of investigatory actions, including the arrest of asuspect .

Although Costa Rican law provides for the use of a varietyof pretrial release measures, there is an overreliance on the useof monetary bail, giving rise to large number of persons in jailbecause they cannot raise the required amount . The investigatorystage concludes with the formal charge and request for trialwhich is issued by the instructional judge . (Even though thisstage of the criminal process should not last longer than sixmonths, a continuance is often granted by the investigatingmagistrate) .

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a trial, the defendant and prosecutor are ordered to appear fortrial within ten days of the order . The trial, which is publicand oral, is held continuously .

The trial is concluded with an acquittal or a convictionwith the requisite sentence being imposed therein . Although theAmerican Convention of Human Rights requires that all sentencesbe appealable by the accused, the Costa Rican system does notallow for that in all cases . The Costa Rican National Commissionfor the Improvement of the Administration of Justice hasrequested assistance from ILANUD to identify experts that canreview the Costa Rican legislation and provide solutions thatwill place it in compliance with this nation's internationalagreements .

VI . EVALUATION OF THE COSTA RICA JUSTICE SECTOR

A) General Problems

This section analyzes the problems identified throughout thepreceeding descriptive sections and attempts to set somepreliminary priorities .

1. Of a normative, nature .

Even though Costa Rican legislation appears to be among themost modern of Latin America, it has been characterized byextensive copying of laws of other nations without adequateadaptation . While this is a feature common throughout theregion, here it is compounded by the nature of thelegislative process .

The National Assembly is charged with two importantfunctions affecting the justice sector : legislating its norms andprocedures, and determining its resources through the budgetprocess . The Assembly has little technical staff to assist themin its legislative function and is often compelled to rely oninterests groups to provide the expertise which they lack . Thereis no concept of "impact study" which can provide an economic andpractical basis for determining the impact of legislation and fewmodern means for expediting the legislative process orfacilitating information to legislators .

While the Assembly had a number of productive years in whichthe majority of significant justice legislation was issued, itswork has been substantially delayed during recent years with morethan 26 major law projects stalled . Our studies revealeddissatisfaction among all justice sectors with the updating oflegislation and its relevance to current needs .

Any program designed to assist the administration of justiceshould take into account the legislative process . One of the

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areas in greatest need is the development of a modern system oflegislative tracking . This is a priority recognized by theAssembly but as yet not acted upon .

Another problem common to all of the justice subsectors isthe lack of adequate regulation, whether through legislation,rule or regulating agency . This is most evident in the policesector which is characterized by the large number of policebodies with the consequent duplication and overlapping offunctions . An organic law for the Public Ministry and anotherregulating the selection and stability of judicial personnel arealso needed . Likewise adequate legislation guaranteeing therights of prisoners, a correctional code, is also badly needed .Assistance in this normative function, perhaps through the use ofHispanic legal experts, is essential .

The legislative process also affects the justice sectorthrough the budget process . Since 1957, the Costa RicanConstitution has guaranteed to the judiciary real economicautonomy by awarding it 6% of the national budget to meet itsoperational needs . This figure was arrived at and is followedwithout any rational basis of need or nature of projectedexpenditures, with the percentage representing an arbitraryfigure .

Several factors affect this discussion . The primarydeterminant of Costa Rican judicial budgets is the salaries ofits personnel . These salaries are among the highest in the publicsector . Secondly, the financial autonomy of the judiciary appearsto be limited to preparation of the budget and presentation tothe National Assembly, since its subsequent control anddisbursement is commended to the Contraloria . Another factor isthe low percentage of the judicial budget which is dedicated tocapital expenditures . Finally, if we add those resources assignedto police as part of the justice expenditure, we obtain apercentage of 9 .6% of the national budget being devoted tojustice . Addition of the correctional budget would place thepercentage of the national budget dedicated to the justice sectorabove 10%, certainly the highest figures in the region .

2. off a_ social,nature .

One of the most significant discoveries in our study was theimportance which the population attached to this sector .When the population was asked to rank national problems,criminality was named as the primary problem (23 .2%) withthe cost of living (16 .8%), housing (16 .4%), unemployment(13 .5%), poverty (10 .2%) and others being ranked lower .There was a difference when the same question was asked ofjustice professionals with criminality being ranked in fifthplace by them .

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There is a general perception of a rise in criminality amongthe population with 90% of them answering affirmatively to thisquestion even though there has been only a slight a rise in thenumber of criminal cases being reported to police . This fear ofcrime has had a substantial effect on the quality of life of theCosta Rican population with the majority taking measures toprevent the possibility of victimization .

When asked whether they or a member of their family had beena victim of a crime in the past year, a surprisingly high numberresponded affirmatively, with street robberies and burglariesbeing the primary crimes . The fear of crime not only affects thedaily activities of citizens but also has an impact on theirconfidence on the justice sector . Even though a large percentageof the citizenry expressed a lack of confidence on the ability ofthe justice sector, especially the police, to protect them, thelarge majority would still report a crime and go to the justicesector for assistance . It should be warned however, thatcontinually growing public distrust in the efficacy of justiceinstitutions could change this and bring serious consequences forthe government .

Given the importance of this topic to the population, it isnotable that the government has not developed a unified nationalplan for the analysis and regulation of this problem . The mostrecent government pronouncements place blame for this phenomenonon refugees and immigrants, a fact that is not demonstrated byany part of our study .

3. of a_ Political Nature .

The Costa Rican justice system faces several issues whichcould be characterized as political and which are dealt within this section . These include judicial independence,judicial career and national criminal policy .

Judicial independence has been judged as one of thebenchmarks of a democratic judiciary . The Costa Rican modelpresents some instances of excessive independence while in otheraspects it lacks it . The assignment of 6% of the national budgetawards the Judiciary economic independence but regulation of itsbudget by the Contraloria restricts it . Its personnel are namedunder a non-legislated civil service system which awards to theCourt the prerogative of naming all lower judges . In itsfunctional aspects, the legislation awards almost exclusivejurisdiction to the courts in these matters .

A major problem facing the Costa Rican justice sector is theabsence of a clearly defined national criminal policy arrived atthrough study, analysis, discussion and consensus . Too often thecomponents of the justice sector act independently and withoutcoordination of efforts .

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The police subsector presents some of the most seriousproblems to adequate development of the justice sector due to itscombination of military and police qualities . Police agencieshave clearly overlapping jurisdictions and functions and littlecoordination between them .

This confusion over the proper role of a police force,combined with the political avoidance of this subject, hascontributed to the perpetuation of non-professional police . Highgovernment officials state with assurance that the primarysafeguard against creation of an army is the maintenance ofrudimentary and politicized police forces .

The Costa Rican correctional system is one of the best inLatin America but is characterized by a lack of planning andaffected by a growing reliance on prison confinement as the onlymeans to deal with the criminal problem .

Criminal regulation is a complex area which should be facedsquarely, as befits policy decisions with a substantial impactupon the delicate fabric of society . The Costa Rican discussionof this problem should be better directed utilizing modernresources and facing the necessity of national policies in whichall sectors cooperate in development and implementation .

Bj justice, Sector Access .

The worth of the justice sector can be measured by theknowledge which the population has of the laws, the institutionswhich administer them and their own ability to have access to thesystem in a positive sense .

There is no mechanism in Costa Rica which provides currentinformation on the laws of the country . It is not surprisingtherefore that the majority of persons surveyed indicated a lackof knowledge about their basic legal rights . Clarity of the lawsis another factor which impacts upon access . In this respectalmost all sectors surveyed complained of the complexity oflegislation .

This ignorance of laws and institutions is not onlyprevalent among the public but also exists among the primaryusers of the criminal justice system . For example, inmates wereasked about the existence of certain functionaries whose duty isto protect their rights and a large number did not know of theirexistence .

The perception that the public has of the justice sector isanother major factor in determining its accessibility . Peoplewill seek the system's assistance in relationship to theconfidence they have that they will be treated equitably and thatthey will derive some satisfaction from having sought itsservice .

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One of the most surprising research results was theconfidence which the Costa Rican public and officials had abouttheir justice institutions . Even though there was a majority whofelt that judges applied laws correctly, an equally large numberindicated that there was corruption in the judicial sector . Thelargest numbers appeared when persons were surveyed as to thepolice, with a majority of those questioned indicating corruptionas one of the factors which best characterized the Costa Ricanpolice .

It is surprising that even though a substantial portion ofthose questioned identified negative factors of the justicesectors as conditioning their vision of it, the overwhelmingmajority of citizens felt confidence in it and would utilize itsservices in case of need .

Another factor which determines the accessibility of ajustice system is the cost it represents to the actual orpotential user . One of the primary factors affecting this issueis the cost of legal services . Reliance on minimum fee scheduleswhich have progressively raised legal fees will place strains onthe lower strata of society . The availability of a free legaldefense for those persons accused of a crime, regardless offinancial resources, is a guarantee to defendants but there areproposed regulations which will substantially curb thisavailability .

Al Respect at Fundamental Guarantees .

Costa Rica presents one of the best human rights records inthe region . This is true in all of the system's subsectors . Thismay be primarily due however, to the prevalent social culturerather than to effective guarantee by the institutions or legalstructures that should control the actions of repressiveinstitutions .

QI Efficiency of the Justice Sector .

To quantify and measure the services offered by the justicesector is a complex if not fruitless task . While traditionalmeasures such as cost-benefit analysis may be employed in someparts of the system, the complexity of the services preventswidespread application of these measures . Taking this intoaccount, we have used some accepted means to measure theefficiency of the Costa Rican justice sector : speed ofproceedings, degree of public satisfaction with the service andits accessibility .

1. Celerity ..

Almost all of the justice professionals, as well as thegeneral population, complain of the delay of the justiceprocess . This perception is confirmed by judicial statistics

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which indicate that the prescribed procedural periods areoften violated .

One of the primary problems affecting the swiftness of theprocess is the growing caseloads confronting the system . This notonly affects the judicial sector but also impacts on the police

which are unable to investigate minor crimes and the correctionalsystem which is continually facing an overcrowding crisis .

There has been a continually spiraling upward trend ofincreasing judicial caseloads which cannot be justified solely bypopulation growth . Even though the subsectors have increasedtheir personnel to meet the growing demand these have not beensufficient . In some subsectors the inverse may be happening dueto budgetary cutbacks . The correctional system, for example, hasseen its budget decreased during periods in which the penalpopulation is growing . They are then placed in the untenableposition of having to choose between personnel and those budgetitems, such as food, which should not be reduced .

2. Satisfaction .

The satisfaction which the public expresses about theservices provided by the justice sector is another measureof its efficiency . This obviously varies with each differentsubsector of the justice system .

One of the most valid measures of satisfaction is the degreeto which users would go to the system to meet their servicedemands . In the case of police 82% of those persons surveyedindicated that they would notify police if they were witnesses ofa crime. The majority of these would choose the Guardia Rural ifthey had a problem while only 5% would notify the Guardia Civil .This may be due to the service orientation of the first and themilitary orientation of the latter . Even though the populationpointed out a number of negative features as characteristics ofthe Costa Rican police sector, they still emphasized a number ofothers which point to a general satisfaction with them .

Due to the specialized and important role which the OIJplays in the Costa Rican justice sector, we asked specificquestions to measure the confidence which justice professionalsexpressed in their work . While the levels of satisfaction weregenerally high, 44% of the prosecutors disagreed . This isparticularly disturbing due to the key interrelationship whichthese agencies play in criminal investigations .

Another key set of actors in the justice sector are lawyers .A high number of persons questioned indicated having been aclient of a lawyer in the preceeding year (15%) . This may howeverbe due to the high participation of lawyers in routine roles . Useof a lawyer is required in such mundane activities as registering

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a car . In the majority of instances, people were satisfied withtheir services, both in their private role or as prosecutors orpublic defenders .

The level of satisfaction with judicial work is fairly highand has been mentioned previously . In the case of thecorrectional system, while there are some specific criticisms byinmates of the correctional system, in the large part theyexpress a positive vision of the services it provides . There iswithin the general population however, a growing feeling that thesystem is "soft" . This may, if when combined with anxiety overcrime, lead to a clamor for a more repressive justice andcorrectional system .

3. Controls .

In order to insure efficiency and to regulate the provisionof services, the justice system relies on a set of normativeand institutional controls . This is an area of greatconcern .

Judicial conduct is regulated by the "Tribunal de InspeccionJudicial" which reviews any complaints against judicialpersonnel . The work of this agency appears to be satisfactory butaffected by a lack of resources . Police misconduct is regulatedby a variety of different mechanisms within their agencies . Inall agencies the resources assigned to this task are insufficientand the measures designed to curb misbehavior are oftentimesillogical .

The OIJ is the most professional of Costa Rican policebodies and therefore might be expected to have the mostsophisticated regulatory mechanism . However, the only supervisionof the OIJ is exercised by a three magistrate committee of theCourt which has no staff or resources of its own . The supervisionis superficial and dictated by the information it receives fromthe agency itself . It should be noted that, for no logicalreason, the investigatory agents of the OIJ are exempt from thenormal review exercised for all other judicial sector personneland review is exclusively internal .

EL Personnel .

The level of efficiency of any institution is due, in nosmall measure, to the quality of its personnel . It is thereforeimportant to develop adequate mechanisms for their selection,training, promotion and remuneration . Likewise, it is importantto maintain a sufficient number of personnel with clearly definedfunctions and displaying the necessary characteristics toaccomplished their assigned task .

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1 . Selection .

The Costa Rican justice sector presents a variety ofselection mechanisms characterized by different degrees ofpolitical interference in the selection process .

Supreme Court Magistrates are selected through a politicalprocess in the National Assembly . Their re-election is virtuallyunaffected by political considerations, with no known case ofdenial of reappointment . Lower judges are selected by the SupremeCourt, allegedly on the basis of qualifications and merit, butthere is a growing perception among judges that otherconsiderations dominate the process . The same concern wasexpressed over the selection of prosecutors and public defenders,which is also carried out by the Court . The instance of greatestsatisfaction is displayed among administrative personnel, theselection of which is clearly based on a neutral civil serviceprocess which includes advertising, examination, applicant poolsand interviews .

The police subsector presents the greatest personnelselection problem . The majority of Costa Rican police, with theexception of two minor agencies, are exempt from civil servicenorms applicable to the rest of the national public sector . Thesepositions are classified as "de confianza" and allow, if notencourage, their usage as a means of political patronage . It istherefore, not surprising to find massive turnover of policepersonnel upon the conclusion of presidential elections .Thereafter, the outgoing administration issues a presidentialdecree which allows all functionaries to resign within a periodof time and to enjoy the benefits equivalent to a fired official(prestaciones) . This represents a significant economic burden tothe incoming administration while draining them of trainedprofessionals . A similar situation also prevails among guards inthe correctional system .

2 . Training .

There are widely varying situations in training among thejustice sectors . Some of these have been discussedpreviously and will not be dealt with here .

Training of police is characterized by duplication ofprograms and efforts . Curricula are not adapted to the functionthey carry out and are oftentimes dated . Resources are oftenminimal with one police school being compelled to ask for privatedonations for food for its trainees since there is no budgetallocation . Programs are often dominated by military subjectswith limited training in normal or traditional police functions .

Lawyers are initially trained in law schools and thedeficiencies have been previously noted . A common denominator ofthe Costa Rican legal education is the theoretical nature of the

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curricula . Most disturbing is the lack of participation by thelaw schools in continuing legal education programs, whether forthe bar or the private sector .

Judicial training is placed in the hands of the "JudicialSchool" which has been characterized by its emphasis on basictraining of low level administrative personnel and devoted littleresources to the rest of the judicial employees . It should beseriously studied whether entry-level and continuing education ofjudicial professionals should be best subcontracted to the lawschool or carried out by the "Judicial School" since the numberof judges and training needs may not justify the investmentrequired to maintain a separate training facility .

3 . Promotion and Remuneration .

Promotional systems are varied in the Costa Rican justicesector and they have been previously discussed . The mostserious needs appear to be in the police subsector in whichtheir absence is notable .

Salaries for judicial personnel appear to be more thanadequate since they are among the highest in the public sector .More than half of legal professionals employed in the judicialsector earned an average base salary which was almost three timesthe public sector average and 1 .5 times higher than professionalsin the public sector . In addition to these base salaries, legalprofessionals earn a large supplementary sum for not practicinglaw (exclusividad) .

The situation of nonlegal personnel, especially thoseemployed outside the judicial sector, is markedly different . Thepolice subsector presents notable differences between thedifferent agencies (7,750 colognes per month in the Guardia Civil,for example, compared with 13,800 colones in the OIJ) . This isoften not affected by the employee's level of education or thesimilarity in function . The result of these disparities iswidespread transfers between one institution and another which isespecially harmful in the most technical areas .

F'1 Material, Resources .

The material resources assigned to the justice sector areoften inadequate and in bad condition .

1 . Physical Facilities .

The most severe problems occur in the police subsector . TheDIS, for example, rents houses for much of its activity inconditions inadequate for efficient work . The UPD occupiessites which in many cases are uninhabitable .

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The correctional system also presents severe problems, withadditional space needs accumulating over a number of years .Continuation of current overcrowding will eventually lead toconfrontations and prison violence rarely seen in Costa Rica .

2 . Equipment .

There are severe equipment problems in all sectors of thejustice system .

The Law School is in severe need of basic teaching equipmentand modern teaching aids . The police are also facing similarproblems but this may be due more to the poor or inadequatesystem of purchasing and maintenance which predominates in mostpolice agencies, rather than an actual lack of funds . Foreigndonations have oftentimes complicated this problem . For example,one of the primary means of obtaining vehicles for this sector isthrough foreign donations . The wide variety of different typesand brands of vehicles makes development of an adequatemaintenance system impossible thereby generating a largepercentage of unusable vehicles during any work shift .

One of the most serious equipment needs is in the area ofinformation systems . This is one of the priorities expressed byall subsectors . Criminal histories are managed by a number ofdifferent agencies, for example, with different levels ofsophistication but with little sharing of data . The equipmentpurchased to date has been obtained without consideration ofdevelopment of integrated networks to be shared by differentagencies .

Some coordination of information system development istaking place . The Executive has assigned this task to theMinistry of Planning which has a committee dealing with justiceinformation, but this committee does not necessarily coordinateits activities with the other branches of government . Thus, sincethe ILANUD project contains a component for donation of ajuridical database, ILANUD was faced with the awkward situationof having this Ministry engaged in discussions for creation of asystem while unaware of the similar activities of the JudicialBranch .

Libraries are another area of need for the justice sector .Adequate bibliographic resources are a sine qua non, of anyeffective justice sector and the state of many of the Costa Ricanlegal libraries leaves much to be desired . The law school librarymaintains the most complete collection in the country but due tobudgetary restrictions has abandoned its periodical collection orpurchase of new materials . The Supreme Court has received adonation of a basic library from ILANUD which appears to meet itsmost immediate needs . Outside of San Jose the situation is evenmore critical with a notable absence of these resources .

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Another area in which assistance could be useful is in thedevelopment of adequate legal materials . While there are severallegal publishers in the country, these are devoted topublications useful only to the legal profession . Public legaleducation is one area in which new materials developed with thecooperation of the Court, the Bar Association and others would beuseful . An example, would be a review of texts utilized by theMinistry of Education to assure that the younger population isreceiving an appropriate legal basis on which to exercise theirrights as Costa Rican citizens .

CG. Administration .

Justice administration is a new concept for this sector .

1 . Coordination .

While the justice sector is a system composed functionallyof different parts (police, courts, corrections) regularlyinteracting, there is very little coordination between thedifferent components of the justice system and even betweenagencies within the same subsector . The police are anexample in which competition and lack of coordinationpredominate .

Any assistance program should attempt to encouragecoordination between the different agencies and subsectors andnot further aggravate the existing problem .

The creation of the Costa Rican National Commission for theImprovement of the Administration of Justice is one of the mostpositive aspects and it should be encouraged to develop notsolely as a mechanism for the implementation of this project butas an ongoing agency which plays a central role in nationaljustice development .

2 . Planning and Evaluation .

A common characteristic of Costa Rican justice agencies isthe absence of planning and evaluation . Every effortdesigned to improve the administration of justice should setforth clearly identifiable and measurable goals and definethe means by which they are to be reached .

Essential to the development of adequate planning mechanismsare adequate justice statistics . These are currently kept by avariety of different agencies with little coordination among thembut commonly without identifiable purposes for these statistics .Even in the case of the judiciary in which the most professionaloffice operates, there appears to be a lack of understandingamong judicial officials of the need for or the utilization ofthe statistics it maintains .

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While the Costa Rican justice sector displays one of thehighest levels of development in the region, one area in whichsubstantial assistance could usefully be assigned is in theadministration area . These programs should be designed carefullyand carried out progressively with a mix of technical assistanceand training .

VII . Justice Qatar iEvaluation Conferense

A two day conference to evaluate the Costa Rica SectorAnalysis was held at the Hotel,Cariari on January 9 and 10, 1987 .

The objective of this meeting was to discuss the findings ofthe study, set priorities with respect to issues covered in itand make recommendations that might Serve as the basis for thebetterment of the administration of justice system in thecountry .

Conference participants included members of the SupremeCourt, Cabinet Ministers, Legislators and other involved, at thehighest levels, in the justice sector .

In order to be able to discuss the subjects covered in thesector analysis in depth, conference participants, after aninitial plenary session, were divided into three commissions orworkshops : Judicial Branch, Police Agencies and CriminalProcedure and Sentencing .

The commissions made recommendations which were distributedfor review and discussion at the plenary session held on themorning of Saturday, January 10, 1987 .

A) In the EST PLENARYL SESSION, Enrique CastilloBarrantes, Costa Rica Project Director, outlined the scope of theProject Study, drawing parallels between the administration ofjustice and socio-economic development, elaborating on thispremise with a description of the national political, economicand social setting which in turn, sets the state for legislativechanges .

B) The9BRANCH WORKSHOP attempted to limit itselfto discussing the greatest needs within the Branch .

1 . Investigation

Discussion centered on the Supreme Court's excessivezealousness in maintaining its independence from the rest ofgovernment . This has led to the development of duplicateservices which is out of step with the political andeconomic reality . The pyramidical structure of the SupremeCourt also concentrates all aspects of judicial branchbusiness in the Court itself with exceedingly littledelegation . A suggestion was made that a concerted effort,

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including the possibility of Constitutional Reform, be madeto determine how the Judicial Branch might acquire a movemodern administration, which would, of necessity, include arelationship with the other institutions and agencies thathave or should have a bearing on the justice sector .

2 . Public Information

The conventional wisdom is that the justice system mustoperate divorced from public opinion . This position mayhave merit when it is applied to a particular court but thatis not the case when it comes to the Judicial Branch as aninstitution . It behooves the Judicial Branch as agovernment institution to provide information to the publicit serves on its workings . Survey results show that evenpersonnel functioning within the Judicial Branch lackknowledge about the seope of its work and have doubts aboutits eficiency . A vigorous public information office wouldhelp resolve this problem .

3 . Merit System vs Corruption

Administrative personnel in the judicial sector is coveredunder the merit system but judges, although technically alsounder a similar system, are more often than not appointed inaccordance with who they know rather than by professionalcredentials . This has led to a consistent perception amongthose surveyed that the judiciary is corrupt .

4 . Training

The Supreme Court should also consider the possibility ofrestructuring the Judicial School to afford more than entrylevel training as well as expanding its geographic scopewhich is limited to the capital metropolitan area .

C) The POLICE WORKSHOP discussion was initiated by LuisSalas, Justice Sector Study Director, when he pointed out that,although Costa Rica is the only country in the region that doesnot have a formally constituted army, it does have nine policeagencies, one of which is a judicial police, the only country inthe region to have one .

Mr . Salas also noted that Costa Rica is experiencing a surgein the crime rate which has increased concern in the generalpopulation as to the ability of the state to curtail this socialsituation .

1 . Police Agencies Characteristics

The number of police offices in Costa Rica is 3 .48 per 1,000inhabitants, high when compared to other countries in thehemisphere, including the United States which has an average

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of 2 .5 officers per 1,000 inhabitants . The operationalbudget of the police agencies has increased 400% (realincrease 250%) in the years 1981 to 1986, from 493 millioncolones to 1 .637 . Not all of the police agenciesparticipated at the same rate in the increase, the bulkhaving gone to the Judicial Police and the Transit Police .

The fact that no army exists has created a confusion as wellas a duality of functions among the existing police agencies withthe following consequences : increasing classification ofdocuments as "confidential", lack of discussion of policeactivities in the political arena, rejection of the concept of aprofessional police under the premise that this might lead to thecreation of an army and the assigning of crime protectionservices to those areas that might be best classified as being ofnational defense .

The Costa Rica police forces have no women in their ranksexcept in administrative positions, a situation which has noexplanation in modern police forces . Average entry level salaryfor a police officer in Costa Rica is 8,550 colones while forother public employees it is 11,805 colones .

Police training is one of the most important avenuescalculated to raise the quality of the police force but,unfortunately, in Costa Rica there has been little emphasisplaced on this . One of the principle failings of police trainingis its lack of consistency . It is more usual than not to findrecruits on the job for several months before they are exposed totraining . Police training should also be on-going, with programsbeing revised periodically to insure that legislativedevelopments are incorporated .

For a police system to operate efficiently there must be aclose relationship with the community it serves . Survey resultsshow that the Rural Assistance Police and the Agency for JudicialInvestigation, rather than the Civil Guard, are the two policeagencies to which the greatest percentage of the population wouldturn in time of need .

In turns of community education, the Agency for JudicialInvestigation makes no provision for any and the Civil Guardspecifically keeps its distance from the population served .

Possibly of greatest concern on matters of police agencybehavior is the fact that the agencies have no real and effectivesupervision . A case in point is the most professional of theagencies, the Agency for Judicial Investigation, which, intheory, is supervised by three Supreme Court magistrates butthese three, in fact, have little time for this additional dutyand no staff to aid in these tasks .

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2 . Police Agency Goals

The findings of the Police Workshop emphasize the need forthe police to be a professional body with specificfunctions, adequate training, merit system hiring practicesand professional ethics standards . A police agency such asthis should also make an effort to create a positive imagein the community it serves by espousing a vigoriouscommunity outreach and public information system .

D) The discussion in the third workshop, CRIMINAL, PROCESSand PROCEDURES was led by Enrique Castillo, law school facultymember at the University of Costa Rica who presented theintricacies of pretrial release and whether this should beconsidered a benefit or a privilege . The jails are full ofprisoners who cannot meet their monetary bond so this isevidently not an effective form of arriving at pre-trial release .

1 . Time to Trial

Another great problem in the criminal process is the speedor, rather lack of it with which the whole process isconducted . It is no secret that the time periods set out inthe pertinent legislation has no bearing on reality . Thetwo questions surrounding this lack of speed are (1) is theslownees due to the volume of work or (2) is it due to alack of human resources . The first problem might beremedied by increased application of prosecutorialdiscretion and the second by the increase of personnelwithin the judicial branch . It is important to createappeals courts . This would ease the load on the superiorcourts, which are tied up with interlocutory appeals, due tothe fact that, as noted elsewhere in this summary, there isno significant appeals process from a trial court decission .

2 . Alternatives

It is imperative to seek alternatives to the present courtprocess in order to open up the court calendars . Some ofthese possibilities are :

(1) The decriminalization of certain acts(2) Arbitration and other systems of private settlement of

conflicts(3) The introduction of plea bargaining

3) Sentencing

Jose Maria Rico set the tone for the discussion by bringingup the need for a sentencing and corrections policy . Mr .Rico readily achnowledged that Costa Rica does in fact havea policy but, as he pointed out, there is a real need to

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compare it with the policies set by those countriesgenerally considered the leaders in these areas .

Modern sentencing and corrections tendencies respond, ingreat part, (1) to the fact that the penitentiaries areovercrowded, (2) that there is abuse of the discretional poweravailable to certain sectors in the system, (3) that there isdisenchantment with the idea of rehabilitation of the prisonerand (4) to the development of the concept of human rights in thepenal system .

In general, except in those cases where there might be anelement of deterrence, the modern systems recommend theelementation of sentences under 2 months as well as exceedinglylong (20,25 or 30 years) sentences except in truly exceptionalcases .

Because of the poor results rehabilitatation has had, thereis a movements to attempt to rehabilitate while at liberty ratherthan in the artificial and coercive setting of a correctionalinstitution . The segregation of groups (those waiting for trial,convicted men, women, etc .) is recommended as is a stay in theconstruction of prisons until a comprehensive policy on thismatter is developed .

The general discussion following Dr . Rico's key notepresentation arrived at the conclusions that it is important todevelop a new legal framework on corrections issues which shouldset such matters as the rights of the prisoners and clarify thesentencing process as well as the conditions in which thesentence must be carried out . This new corrections policy shouldalso analyze security confinement, physical punishment andpreventive detection .

There was a consensus that four more admission faculties areneeded and parole and other release programs also need more andbetter installations, the importance of these programs inachieving the reduction of prison populations being obvious .

A call was made to decriminalize certain acts entirely or tosanction their commission with fines or the like, in an attemptto lessen congestion in the prisons . A case in point would bedecriminalizing immigration matters as a sizeable portion of theprison population is made up of foreignors .

Specific mention was made of the need to request both fromthe Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Foreign Relationstheir support, so that some of these matters might be the subjectof foreign assistance requests by the government of Costa Rica toappropriate international agencies .

E) The CLOSING SESSION saw various of the most importantconference participants echoing the findings of the workshops on

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the need to re-assess the functions and structures of the policeagencies, dealing openly with the reality that Costa Rica needs aprofessional police force, capable of dealing with both normalpolice functions and national security matters . As stated by theHonorable Christian Tattenback, Costa Rica needs something thatis "move than a police but less than an army" .

VIII . Proposed Bilateral Agreement Recommendations

One of the stated objectives of the Court AdministrationProject is the development of bilateral agreements between theUnited States of America and each of the participantingcountries, based on the needs of each of these countries asidentified by the Judicial Sector Assessment .

Although no assurances, direct or indirect have ever beenmake of AID funding, many of the recommendations for action madeat the evaluation conference can be implemented best by thetechnical support generally provided by AID to a host country .Based on these recommendations the following suggestions are madefor possible projects involving both countries .

A) The Supreme Court in Costa Rica is both the apex of thejudiciary pyramid and the administrator of the entire courtsystem . Their fierce independence has guaranteed the autonomy ofthe sector but it has also hampered attempts to modernize courtadministration as there is little day to day contact with othergovernment agencies, precluding the flow of information andexperience .

A bilateral agreement could foster a peer relationship withdifferent court systems in the United States which would make itpossible for the Magistrates involved to see, first-hand, how amodern Court system functions and how new ideas in both legaland technical developments are incorporated .

This peer relationship might extend to a so-called sisterarrangement with the criminal Justice Planning council of a statewith characteristics (size, perhaps) similar to those of CostaRica . A relationship of this kind would benefit both partners asit would allow the US partner, now that the U .S . is receiving aninflux of immigrants, both legal and otherwise, from the CentralAmerican region, to exchange information on the legal and socialmores of those who now must conform to U . S . laws .

Courts in the United States have often either championedor joined legal reforms movements and peer discussions betweenmembers of the Costa Rica Supreme Court and U . S . judges couldwell open the door to local reforms, as might be, for example,the creation of a criminal appeals court .

Although participants at the Sector Analysis EvaluationConference were enthusiastic about sponsoring Constitutional and

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other legislative reforms, even in the most expeditious ofsystems, the kind of fundamental changes which would be requiredin Costa Rica are going to take time and massive persuasiontechniques .

B) Provide support services to the already existing NationalCommission for the Improvement of the Justice Sector so that thisCommission can :

1 . Design and promote community education programs, perhapsthrough both public interest and commercial radio, oncitizen rights, privileges and duties in a democracy aswell as discussion of certain laws which most widely affectthe general population .

2 . Develop and implement a pre-trial release program thatwould permit the meeting of bail requirements by means otherthan by payment of a fee, which precludes the release onbail of the poor . There are several Own RecognizanceRelease Projects in the U .S . which could serve as technicalmodels .

3 . Promote and sponsor outreach programs with the goal ofimproving the image of the judicial sector in the communityat large .

4 . Effect changes in the Judicial College to improve thetraining of judicial sector personnel .

5 . Make recommendations as to the academic requirements oflower level judiciary personel .

6) Promote graduate school level degree programs at theUniversity of Costa Rica .

C) The Police Agency workshops submitted a series ofrecommendations for the beleaguered police agencies in thiscountry. Although financial support is not available under theAdministration of Justice project for police agencies, moniesmight be made available to Costa Rica by other U .S . agencies .Among the most salient recommendations which would bearsupporting under appropriate funding are :

1 . The defining and ordering of responsibilities of each ofthe nine police agencies in the country .

2 . Strengthening police academy training and continuingeducation .

3 . Promoting stability through the development of a PoliceMerit System Law .

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4 . Development of a community relations program to insurethat the general population becomes aware of the servicesprovided by the police .

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Job Description for Deputy Director for Courtt ,

Administration Project

1 . The candidate will live in San Jose, Costa Rica andserve as Deputy Director in a project directed by FloridaInternational University in the Central America region . Positionwill incluide bath administrative responsibilities andsubstantial research and writing .

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2 . The candidate must be able to write well, in bothSpanish and English, material of a legal and sociological nature .Working samples will be required in both languages .

3 . The candidate must have proven ability to interact withprofessional and support staff in the various participatingcountries . Some travel .

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