How much for the law degree?
“The day that code goes into effect is the day I quit.” According to Rafael Durán Barranza, president of El Salvador’s National Judicial Council, that is how one veteran Salvadoran jurist announced his views while the draft of a new criminal code was still being debated. That reaction points to one of the most nettlesome aspects of judicial reform programs: the unwillingness and inability of existing practitioners to change their ways. In El Salvador, the resistance was understandable. First, there were legitimate philosophical disagreements over the government’s chosen approach to reform. Second, the new criminal procedures resulted in a significant transfer of authority from judges and the police to prosecutors and defenders (see article “I’ll see you in court!”, link at right). For judges, attorneys in any capacity, and for the police, the reform also implied the need to learn and correctly apply a large new body of substantive and procedural law, with little or no time off to prepa
