Running Head: CJ 4960 MOD 3 PAPER BELL 1

CJ 4960 MOD 3 PAPER BELL 7

CJ 4960 MOD 3 Paper

Project One: Police /Law Enforcement in Colombia

The Colombian judicial system has undergone several reforms recently, all of which are intended to boost its efficiency despite the country still suffering from backlogs of cases that it handles (Gómez et al., 2017).In the 1990s, the judicial institutions of the country were elaborated as being slightly inefficient and corrupt with close to 60% or lesser new cases being reported yearly (Gómez et al., 2017). As such, the creation of the Attorney general's office and the relevant transformation from an inquisitional judicial system to an oral accusatory system based on act 906 of 2004 were crucial measures since they mainly seemed to increase deterrence by being both flexible and increasing the punishment expected for any offender. The impacts of this transformation on the crimes committed are usually measured directly via the index of the judicial efficiency and also indirectly with the dichotomous variable (Gómez et al., 2017).

Classifications or Types of Structures in the Columbian Judicial System

The Colombian judicial structure constitutes the state high court which is the constitutional court (Corte Constitutional), the Supreme Court, the council of State, the superior council of justice administration, the lower administrative and civil courts, and the attorney general's office(Gutierrez, n.d.).The types of structures utilized in the Colombian judicial system include the transformative justice approach structure, the restorative justice approach, and the transitional justice approach structure.

As such, there is the need for elaborating the advantages associated with the transformative justice approach in transitional contexts so as to curb structural violence and convert various de jure rights into realities throughout the society (Dáire McGill, 2017). An important paradigm of the special justice for peace constitutes the application of restorative justice one that seeks restoration for the harm suffered and also reparation of various victims affected by conflicts especially to stop any situation of social exclusion which may lead to victimization. Restorative justice techniques majorly address the various needs and dignity of victims thus are usually applied with the comprehensive approach which normally guarantees justice ("Colombia: International day for the right to the truth – Colombia," n.d.).

Number of agencies in the Country and the Officers per 1000 population

The judicial structure constitutes several agencies in the country which are national thus implying that the police officers are effectively distributed in their coverage such as the metropolitan police officers who are 5, regional police who are 8, and 34 police departments ("National police of Colombia," 2006). Additionally, the directorate general is subdivided into six administrative support services, five offices, a director of educational counselors, and eight operational directions ("National police of Colombia," 2006). As such, Colombia's organizational structure can be termed as being decentralized with a national jurisdiction structure that is coordinated. Their jurisdiction being national implies that the police officers are effectively distributed in their coverage.

Organization Structure, the Jurisdictional Structure, and operating Duties.

The Colombian organization structure constitutes armed police service which is civilian in nature with a hierarchical structure that is usually similar to that of military forces. The CNP is headed by the general of national policy who is usually appointed by the president of the republic and has to be the general officer of the institution. Their jurisdiction being national implies that the police officers are effectively distributed in their coverage such as the metropolitan police officers who are 5, regional police who are 8, and 34 police departments ("National police of Colombia," 2006). Additionally, the directorate general is subdivided into six administrative support services, five offices, a director of educational counselors, and eight operational directions ("National police of Colombia," 2006). As such, Colombia’s organizational structure can be termed as being decentralized with a national jurisdiction structure that is coordinated. Their jurisdiction being national implies that the police officers are effectively distributed in their coverage.

Crime Rate, Corruption and Misconduct Issues

The crime rate in Colombia has been rapidly increasing in the past years particularly after the country signed peace agreements. Most of the demobilized guerilla members went to the streets of the country to seek new occupation or direction though unfortunately, they fell into crime, raising the delinquency levels of crime such as extortion, robbery, micro trafficking, and rape (Canon-Clavijo et al., 2019).On the other hand, corruption and misconduct issues in Colombia are also on a rise due to increased violence history which stretches over a particular period of time. Colombia witnessed violence continue with present revolts and the format of insurgent groups such as ELN and FARC which meant that there would be no periods of pace for citizens of Colombia(Jeapes et al.,2018).

Colombia’s level of Cooperation with Foreign Agencies

There is a positive relationship between Colombia and other foreign agencies, an idea that is depicted when the United States established diplomatic relations with Colombia following its independence from Spain. Colombia is a middle-income country thus the United States and Colombia share a commitment to promoting security, prosperity, and also democratic governance not only in Colombia but also in the Western hemisphere ("U.S. relations with Colombia," 2021).

Procedures, Policies, Methods, or Ideas that the US should adopt

The United States should adopt Colombia's state of law that is usually organized in form of a Unitary, decentralized republic with various autonomy of its territorial entities, pluralist, participatory or democratic participants. The state of the law in Colombia is advantageous since civil law jurisdiction usually has its roots in Roman law thus being heavily influenced by the French system which also established the various written codifications of the law (Pineros et al., 2018).

References

Canon-Clavijo, R. E., Diaz, C. O., Garcia-Bedoya, O., & Bolivar, H. (2019). Study of crime status in Colombia and development of a citizen security app. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 116-130.

Colombia: International day for the right to the truth – Colombia. (n.d.). ReliefWeb.

Dáire McGill. (2017). Different violence, different justice? Taking structural violence seriously in post-conflict and transitional justice processes. State Crime Journal, 6(1), 79.

Gutierrez, D. (n.d.). Colombia. Welcome | Center for the Administration of Justice.

Gómez, C., Velásquez, H., Rendón, A. J., & Bohórquez, S. (2017). Crime in Colombia: More law enforcement or more justice? Crime, Law and Social Change, 68(1-2), 233-249.

Jeapes, A. C. J. L. (2018). A compendium of Colombian policing challenges: from Pablo to present (Doctoral dissertation, London Metropolitan University).

National police of Colombia. (2006, October 4). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from

Piñeros, G., Catherine, N., & Pavani, G. (2018). Decentralization processes in the Constitutions of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. A Comparison beyond a semantic approach. Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado, (21), 1-25.

U.S. relations with Colombia. (2021, July 19). United States Department of State.