The Due Process Of Law Foundation has posted a new piece on criminal networks and how prosecutors can disrupt them, using Guatemala as the case study. The research, by Issa Luna Pla, José Roberto Nicolás Carlock, and Harald Waxenecker, as the Working Group on Illicit Networks in Latin America, saw how organised crime and corruption were interconnected phenomena where political, economic and criminal actors interact in layered and often hidden ways. In order to dismantle entrenched criminal systems, new tools, data-driven strategies, and network-oriented thinking are now essential. This study explores how justice systems can evolve to meet this challenge.
Their Five Key Takeaways for Prosecutors and Advocates:
1. Criminal Networks Are Not Just Criminals
2. Targeting Central Actors Works
3. Severity Should Be Strategic, Not Excessive
4. Combining Charges Can Expose the Bigger Picture
5. Charging Co-Offenders Together Reveals the Network
The authors state that the research isn’t just for scholars or legal professionals and they hope that it can help civil society groups, investigative journalists, and anti-corruption advocates ask sharper questions:
· Who are the central actors in this case?
· Are prosecutors using all available legal tools?
· Are charges reflecting the full range of criminal behavior?
· Is the justice system addressing networks, or just symptoms?
You can read more here, Rethinking Justice: How Prosecutors Can Disrupt Criminal Networks, which includes a link to the full paper which was published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology as well as a version in Spanish.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Criminalization, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Report, Solidarity in Action
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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