Juris Studia

IMPACT OF CORRUPTION, LACK OF TRANSPARENCY, AND GOVERNMENTAL INABILITY ON POLITICAL STABILITY AND GOVERNANCE IN BOLIVIA

Víctor Hugo Rojas Alcocer — 2025-06-30

The credibility crisis facing the Bolivian democratic system presents structural characteristics that seriously compromise the rule of law. Institutionalized corruption, opacity in public management, and the widespread perception of a judiciary co-opted by political interests have undermined the legitimacy of institutions (Transparency International, 2024; World Justice Project, 2023). In 2024, citizen confidence in the justice system fell to 13% (Latinobarómetro, 2024), highlighting a critical breakdown in the relationship between citizens and the state apparatus, directly affecting the effectiveness of oversight mechanisms and the guarantee of rights.

This institutional deterioration is exacerbated by the state's inefficiency in responding to fundamental social demands, such as access to basic services and poverty reduction, which has generated a climate of social conflict and democratic disaffection (ECLAC, 2023; Human Rights Watch, 2023). Given this scenario, it is imperative to promote structural reforms aimed at strengthening judicial independence, ensuring administrative transparency, and fostering effective citizen participation (International IDEA, 2024). Only through a regulatory and institutional redesign that addresses both the causes and manifestations of this crisis will it be possible to restore democratic governance and the full validity of the constitutional rule of law in Bolivia.

THE GUARANTEE JUDGE IN THE ACCUSATORY CRIMINAL PROCESS: BETWEEN LEGAL FORMALISM AND REAL JUSTICE

ALEJANDRO ALBERTO MORICONI — 2025-06-30

The accusatory criminal process in Ibero-America has profoundly transformed the judicial dynamic, assigning specific and strategic roles to each system actor. In this model, the guarantee judge plays a key role in ensuring respect for fundamental rights, overseeing the legality of investigations, and maintaining balance between the prosecution and the defense. Their role is essential to preventing procedural abuses and reinforcing the system’s impartiality. The study highlights how the implementation of the adversarial system in different countries of the region, especially in relation to the Argentine Federal Code of Criminal Procedure, has redefined the responsibilities of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, demanding greater professionalism and autonomy, as legal effectiveness may condition the validity of the norm.

RIGHT TO HONOR. I KILLED HER BECAUSE SHE WAS MINE

José Turpín Saorín — 2025-06-30

The patriarchal culture, the man considered the center of everything, if we link it to the legal burden of the concept of honor, expression or action of dishonor discredit, embodied and in relation to women and whose preservation depends on female behavior; gives rise to contribute, such practices, to have legal protection in some legal systems, but above all what we would be interested in, to have social justification, based on reprehensible cultural practices.

NORMATIVE INDETERMINACY IN THE CRIME OF DRUG USE AND POSSESSION FOR USE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY IN THE BOLIVIAN CRIMINAL SYSTEM

Marisol Campos Doria Navas — 2025-06-30

The present study critically analyzes Article 49 of Law No. 1008 of the Coca and Controlled Substances Regime in Bolivia, which penalizes the consumption and possession for consumption of controlled substances. Through a qualitative approach based on the dogmatic legal method, the work examines how the indeterminacy of this norm undermines the principle of penal legality in its dimension of taxativity, preventing citizens from reliably anticipating the legal consequences of their actions. This normative vagueness enables discretionary application of punitive power and affects fundamental guarantees such as legal certainty, the presumption of innocence, and due process. It was evidenced that the criminal type is configured as an abstract danger offense, but without adequately delimiting the legal risk, which hinders the application of the principles of objective imputation, proportionality, and culpability. The research also incorporates a study of constitutional and inter-American jurisprudence, applying the proportionality test of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is concluded that Article 49 does not meet the formal and material legality standards required by the American Convention on Human Rights, resulting in being unconventional and unconstitutional.

NOBODY SAW BLACK MIRROR: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONVENTIONAL BASES OF THE CRIMES CONTAINED IN ARTICLES 153 AND 153 BIS OF THE ARGENTINE PENAL CODE

Tobías Avila — 2025-06-30

This study examines the codification of the offenses enshrined in Articles 153 and 153 Bis of the Argentine Penal Code, considering the Argentine National Constitution, international treaties ratified by the Argentinian Republica, and the perspectives of both jurisprudence and the most esteemed doctrinarians in the field. By combining doctrinal and jurisprudential analysis, this work explores the typological structure of these criminal offenses, their constitutive elements and aggravating factors, as well as the interpretative criteria adopted by Argentine courts in their enforcement. From this perspective, it addresses key controversies in their legal assessment, particularly the determination of judicial jurisdiction, evaluating whether federal or provincial courts should preside over these matters given the increasing impact of information technologies on criminal law. In conclusion, the study will examine whether Argentine legislation aligns with international legal instruments, the prevailing principles of criminal law within Argentina’s legal framework and will ultimately put forward our own perspective on the matter.

NOTA EDITORIAL

Carlos Fernandez Reyes — 2025-06-30

NOTA EDITORIAL