Justice under Threat: A Proposal for Special Courts in Peru Facing the Rise of Organized Crime
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/redp.2026.94970Abstract
The rise of organized crime in Peru, manifested through urban terrorism, extortion, and hired killings, has created a context of systematic violence that threatens the safety of justice operators and undermines institutional capacity to combat these criminal structures. This situation has rekindled the debate over the implementation of exceptional judicial mechanisms, invoking the historical experience of “faceless judges" (1992-1997). In this context, this article proposes a legal-institutional model for special courts in Peru that balances the effectiveness of criminal prosecution with the preservation of procedural guarantees in the face of rising organized crime. The proposed model consists of three components: 1) a precise delineation of the material and temporal scope using quantifiable criteria; 2) a graduated system of judicial anonymity with multi-level oversight; and 3) phased implementation (pilot, expansion, and consolidation) with evaluation metrics and sunset clauses. The article concludes that the model’s feasibility hinges on overcoming the false dichotomy between security and rights, acknowledging the need to protect justice operators while safeguarding fundamental procedural guarantees.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Andherson J. Aguirre-Lanegra
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