Topic Guide: Judicial Corruption

Corruption risks and assessment tools in the criminal justice chain. Messick R., 2015. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre http://www.u4.no/publications/...

This  U4 issue gives an overview of where corruption is most likely to arise within investigations, arrest, detention, prosecution and trials. It also explains existing tools to assess these risks.  

U4 justice sector theme page. The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, 2014. http://www.u4.no/themes/justic...  

The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre works in thematic areas including the justice sector. They regularly publish papers and briefs on aspects of judicial corruption, primarily targeted at international development practitioners.  

Courts, corruption and judicial independence. Gloppen, S., 2014. in Tina Søreide and Aled Williams (eds), Corruption, grabbing and development: real world challenges. Cheltenham and Northampton (MA): Edward Elgar Publishing. http://www.cmi.no/publications...  

The chapter describes the forms of corruption that can take place in the judicial sector and explains how corruption threatens judicial independence. It also describes how governments can misuse corruption charges and investigations to pursue their own political agendas. Finally, it sets out approaches to addressing corruption problems in the judicial sector and how to balance the need for increased accountability with respect for judicial independence.  

Ethics and Accountability in Criminal Justice: Towards a Universal Standard – Second edition. Prenzler T., 2013. Griffith University http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/2...  

This book aims at raising ethical standards in criminal justice practice, making the case  for academics, advocates and policymakers to speak with one voice in articulating universal ethical standards and, most importantly, in prescribing systems and techniques that must be in place for criminal justice to be genuinely accountable and as free from misconduct as possible. The focus of the book is on the core components of the criminal justice system - police, courts and corrections - and the core groups within this system: sworn police officers; judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers; and custodial and community correctional officers. By using quality research and policy analysis of these core components Professor Prenzler formulates a basic checklist that can be used to assess the ethical quality and accountability of the criminal justice system in any jurisdiction.     

Reducing corruption in the judiciary. United States Agency for International Development, 2009.   http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/...  

The USAID Program Brief provides valuable advice for those undertaking anti-corruption reform in the judiciary. It describes the principles that underpin a well-functioning judicial system and sets out approaches to tackling the many forms of corruption that can take place among the various judicial actors. The guide recommends that efforts to address judicial corruption should be integrated with broader efforts to improve the justice system, such as reform of judicial appointments procedures and case management systems. 

Global corruption report 2007: corruption and judicial systems. Transparency International, 2007. http://www.transparency.org/wh...  

Transparency International’s 2007 report analyses the key issues in strengthening the integrity of judicial systems. It describes the challenges of balancing judicial independence with accountability, the problem of political interference in the judiciary and provides lessons learned from around the world about fighting corruption in the judicial systems. A series of country reports documents examples of judicial corruption in those countries and describes successes and failures in attempts to sanction the corrupt and reform judicial systems.