ARGENTINA: The province of La Rioja passed the jury trial law and the adversarial procedural code

The moment of the voting

Governor Ricardo Quintela

In a very special day, which ended with sustained applause, the House of Representatives of La Rioja unanimously passed three laws that will fundamentally change its justice system and will surely influence all of northern Argentina.

This includes a top tier jury trial law, the implementation of the adversarial system and the organic law of the judiciary. 

It's a complete revolution for the Northwest.  After this breakthrough, only four provinces and some federal districts remain with a mixed inquisitorial process.

It was the culmination of a long legislative and training process that took almost four years (2022 Governor Quintela sends the bill), with significant participation from the  AAJJ and INECIP.

The main change is the elimination of the investigating judge, who currently concentrates the functions of investigation and judgment, undermining the principle of impartiality. The reform adopts oral and public trials and hearings in every stage of the procedures. Furthermore, serious crimes will be tried by twelve jurors.

The initiative's enthusiastic support was such that even the opposition endorsed it with a landmark speech by the  UCR party leader, Gustavo Galván, in defense of the jury and the adversarial oral system.

 

Representative Galván UCR La Rioja

According to Governor  Ricardo Quintela , who promoted the initiative, this represents "a step toward a more accessible, modern, and participatory justice system".

In this regard, the governor stated on his Twitter account: "With the implementation of the adversarial system and trial by jury, we will move toward a more agile, transparent judicial system with the participation of the citizenship".

THE JURY LAW

The law establishes the classic model with twelve jurors, gender parity and conducted by a presiding judge. It will adjudicate crimes with sentences of 20 or more years in prison, such as homicide, rape, and other serious crimes. 

The judge will instruct the jury on the law, then send the jury to deliberate in secret until the jurors reach a unanimous, general and final verdict. The law specifically provides for an innovation regarding gender perspectives in the instructions.

“…When the case involves female victims or defendants, the judge will include instructions with gender perspective, explaining in a simple and concrete manner the evidentiary law and the applicable law, taking into account the context of the case, ensuring the equal interpretation and application of the law…”

The parties will present evidence and testimony in open court and the jury will assess the facts based on that evidence. 

There will be several pre-trial hearings to admit or exclude evidence, based on objective criteria of relevance, reliability, and lack of prejudice, which can be reviewed by another judge in the event of disagreement.

The verdict must be unanimous, both for conviction and acquittal; if the twelve votes are not reached and the jury is deadlocked, the case may be retried by another jury once more. In the event of guilt, a subsequent hearing will be held to determine the sentence with judge alone.

Acquittal verdicts are final and have the authority of res judicata, except in cases of bribery or coercion.

To be a juror, you must be Argentine, between 18 and 70 years old, be literate, have resided in the province for at least two years, and not be legally disqualified. Judicial officials, active members of the security forces, political and religious leaders, and others are excluded. Jurors will be selected by public lottery and will be updated every two years. 

There is also a voir dire with four peremptories and limitless challenges for cause, ensuring the impartiality of the jury.

Minister Pedro Goycochea

Pedro Goyochea, minister of justice, stated that the jury will begin in 2026:  “We had an inquisitorial system, where the investigating judge carried out in writing the investigation of the cases submitted to jurisdiction for criminal acts. Now that investigative capacity is transferred to the prosecutors and the investigating judge becomes a real judge in public hearings”. 

The official explained how a jury trial works and maintained that the mechanism is similar to that seen in Hollywood movie trials. "There is a defense, a plaintiff, the prosecutor, the judge presiding over the case, and the 12 people who will be present and who will follow all stages of the trial. Once the arguments conclude, the jury must decide whether to convict or acquit the defendant. To do so, the jury will retire to deliberate in secret and then deliver its unanimous verdict. The jury's decision is final; there is no appeal if there is an acquittal", he reported.

"In this second half of the year, intensive training will be carried out. With the system changing, we need to train not only judicial officials but also those who act as assistants and work in this field, such as lawyers", he explained.

The official emphasized that these training sessions will be conducted jointly with UNLaR "and will involve scholars and lawyers who will introduce them to this new dynamic. It's a qualitative leap that allows all these criminal proceedings to be conducted much more efficiently and quickly, resolving issues submitted to local jurisdiction ", he commented.

Read the news here:

- Rioja Virtual (15/05/25): "La Rioja tendrá juicio por jurados y sistema acusatorio" (ver)

- INECIP (15/05/25): "La Rioja aprobó la implementación del sistema acusatorio con juicios por jurados" (ver)

ARGENTINA: The province of Santa Fe gives the world its newest jury system

Santa Fe, the twelfth province to incorporate Jury Trials in Argentina.

Yesterday, Santa Fe joined the list of provinces implementing jury trials. Twelve provinces in Argentina now have juries, meaning half of the country.

With unanimous approval from the House of Representatives (which accepted changes from the Senate), the bill to try several serious felonies with citizen participation within the province became a law.

There were four previous attempts of the House of Representatives since 2018 to implement this bill, but they always stumbled in the conservative Senate. But after de the elections of 2023, the composition of the Senate changed dramatically and that paved the way for the definitive enactment of jury trials.

John Gastil, Andrés Harfuch
y Shari Diamond at the
Grey House

Throughout these years, many Argentine and American scholars went to Santa Fe to promote the benefits of trial by jury (Valerie Hans and Shari Diamond jury tour) (Shari Diamond and John Gastil in Santa Fe).

The news made a significant impact across the country, since Santa Fe was the only "major" province without juries. Buenos Aires, the City of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Córdoba (the only one with a vanishing mixed court) already implemented trial by jury.

The law is structurally brilliant, since it maintains the characteristics of the common law jury: 12 citizens with gender equality (6 men and 6 women), led by a professional judge who will instruct the jury on the law, a unanimous and final verdict, a voir dire hearing with four peremptories and only one new trial in case of a hung jury. 

It slightly departed from the rest of the bills in Argentina, because it adopted the so called "English Rule": after certain amount of time without reaching unanimity, the judge will accept verdicts of 10. Many observers agree that it is a matter of time to modify this very soon, since the projected federal bill mandates unanimous verdicts with no exception.

Jury trials will be gradually used for the following crimes, even in attempted cases: murder in the first degree, sexual abuse and robbery resulting in death, and murder cases involving police officers while off duty or on leave.

DOWNLOAD THE LAW HERE

The emblematic Paraninfo, where the
National Constitution was ratified in 1994.

Ariel Bermúdez (Creo Party), author of one of the projected bills, recalled initiatives from former representatives Leandro Busatto (PJ Party) or Gabriel Real (PDP Party) that were passed in the House but failed at the Senate.

Meanwhile, the message from the Executive Branch emphasizes another initiative originated during the administration of the socialist Miguel Lifschitz, and said "we share many of its considerations, which are an important part of the rationale behind this legal institution of jury trials".

"The need for a jury trial law not only fulfills the legislative mechanisms included in the Criminal Procedural Code but also allows for the highest degree of constitutional compliance in our criminal justice system. It enables mutual approach between civil society and the judicial system, facilitating a fruitful exchange of perspectives that involve the administration of justice with the diverse and plural social reality and community values" the message says.

Related news: 

- Página 12 (22/03/2024): "Ahora sí sera como en el cine. Es ley el juicio por jurados en Santa Fe". Click aquí)

- Sol Play 91.5 (21/03/2024): "Se aprobó el sistema de juicio por jurados en Santa Fe". Click aquí

- El Litoral (21/03/2024): "Santa Fe, la undécima provincia en incorporar los juicios por jurados". Click aquí

- Cadena 3 (21/03/2024): "Santa Fe: la legislatura provincial convirtió en ley el juicio por jurados". Click aquí

- Aire Digital (21/03/2024): "Cambio histórico en la justicia y más participación ciudadana: es ley el juicio por jurados en Santa Fe". Click aquí

GLOBAL IMPACT: THERE WILL BE A CIVIL JURY LAW IN CHACO; ARGENTINA

Governor Jorge Capitanich

In an unprecedented worldwide event, the Governor of Chaco sent to the Legislature a bill that establishes the trial by jury in civil matters.  Hopefully, it will be enacted into law this year and will become effective in 2021.

Thus, thanks to Chaco, Argentina joins the group of nations such as the United States and some provinces of Canada, to try their civil matters by juries. This law will be a before and after for the justice systems of Argentina and Latin America. 

The trailblazing province of Chaco is the first Argentine province to hold both a criminal and civil jury trials, as ordered by our 1853 Constitution (Section 24). Chaco's extraordinary undertaking marks a historical milestone that Argentina should be very proud of.

Not in vain the father of Political Science, Alexis de Tocqueville, described in this way in 1835 the benefits and the importance of the civil jury: 

“The institution of the jury, limited to criminal matters, is thus always in danger; once introduced to civil matters, it resists the time and efforts of men. If the jury could have been suppressed from the mores of the English as easily as their laws, it would have completely succumbed under the Tudors. It is, then, the civil jury who really saved the liberties of England.”

THE REASONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE LAW

The adaptation of the civil process in Chaco to the requirements of the new Federal Civil and Commercial Code is the main reason for the enactment of this law. Indeed, the civil code of 2015 has triggered unpostponable and irreversible changes in the ancient and stagnant Argentine civil process, which has been mired in a completely written and secret procedure for more than 200 years.

Argentina’s only real advancement in civil procedure in the past 25 years are the replacement of the typewriter by the computer, moving paper filing to electronic filing (but filing nonetheless), and a conference in chambers that has nothing to do with a public trial. In the XXI century, millions of Argentine pesos a year are still being spent to buy thread and needles to sew the files.

The usual landscape of a civil law court:
mountains of papers

All civil cases in the country are tried in writing and secrecy in bench trials organized as in the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, with massive delegation of functions to court staff and officers, and without any notion of oral and public trial whatsoever.

The final result of this "justice" is an infinite delay in the civil proceedings, which affects basic human rights.

Argentina was recently sanctioned by the IACHR (Inter-American Court of Human Rights) because it took twelve years to compensate the parents of a teenager who suffered a very serious accident in a playground (see Furlan and Family Case vs Argentina). The case started in 1990 and ended in 2013.

If there had been a civil jury procedure, the trial would have finished with a verdict in no more than three days, and with all the evidence presented at trial in open court.

Some paragraphs of the IACHR ruling show the shameful status of civil justice in Argentina and the reason for its urgent reform.

186. "From the arguments presented by the State, no specific reasons emerge to justify why a civil proceeding that should not have lasted more than two years (…) ended up lasting more than twelve years."

190. Bearing in mind the reasons outlined above, this Court considers that the State has not demonstrated that the delay prolonged for more than 12 years is not due to the conduct of the authorities (…).

232. From the evidence of the record, the Court observes that Sebastián Furlán was not even heard directly by the judge presiding over the suit for damages. On the contrary, there is evidence in the record that Sebastián Furlán appeared in person twice before the court, but he was not heard on those occasions (…).

265. For all the aforementioned reasons, the Court considers that the disintegration of the family unit has been proven, together with the suffering endured by all the family members as a consequence of the delays in the civil trial, the manner in which the judgment was executed and the other problems that Sebastián Furlan faced in trying to obtain adequate rehabilitation.

This will be in Chaco: a jury in open court to try civil cases

      CONTENT OF THE CIVIL JURY LAW

The Chaco civil jury law has an indisputable world class level, since it simultaneously regulates completely innovative aspects for Argentine civil procedural law:

1) It establishes a civil jury of twelve members, presided by a judge who will instruct the jury on the law, and a general unanimous verdict. A special verdict may also be rendered. The jury will try class actions, consumer rights collective disputes, tort cases of over half a million pesos and collective environmental and land disputes.

2)  Establishes by law the civil adversarial litigation in a mandatory oral and public trial.

3)  The jury will have gender equality. The jury will be composed of six women and six men.

4)  Indigenous jury:  If the plaintiff and the defendant belong to the Wichí, Moqoit or Qom Indigenous Peoples, the twelve jurors will be of that ethnic group.

5)  Provides both a discovery hearing and a case management hearing. 

THE STORY BEHIND THE LAW

             

Undoubtedly, the overwhelming success of the implementation of criminal juries in Argentina was decisive in opening the floodgates for the civil jury discussion. In particular, the province of Chaco and Governor Capitanich have been some of the main promoters of the criminal jury in the country since 2013.

Seven years ago: discussing the implementation
of criminal jury trials in Chaco

It is still impossible to measure the gigantic step that the Chaco has just taken. For example, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the other Commonwealth countries got rid of the civil jury some years ago and only retain it for minor matters, such as libel or when the court ordered. Also, Japan held civil jury trials during the period of occupation of the North American bases in Okinawa until well into the 70s, and today it is striving to recover it.

Governor Jorge Capitanich and Minister of Justice
Gloria Zalazar

Those who made this feat possible in Chaco, along with the Institute of Criminal and Social Science Comparative Studies and the Argentine Association of Jury Trials (INECIP and AAJJ by their Spanish acronyms), have been the Minister of Justice Gloria Zalazar; the Undersecretary of Justice Lourdes Polo, and her team with Camila Parra and Fernando Sosa and the Undersecretary of Planning Leandro Álvarez and his team Camila Arce and Joaquín Dudik.

The AAJJ warmly congratulates the Government of the Province of Chaco for this magnificent law that will forever change the Argentine justice system. 

Argentina´s President Alberto Fernández announced that the federal jury bill will be sent to the Congress for its approval.

Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina

                                                                                                                                                                The President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, announced a profound judicial reform during his speech before the Legislative Assembly to inaugurate the 138th period of ordinary sessions of the National Congress.

Among the highlights is its announcement that the trial by jury law ordered by the National Constitution will finally be implemented at the federal level, after 167 years of long wait.

“We must optimize the functioning of the Supreme Court of Justice and improve the work of the Judiciary and the Federal Prosecution. Also, we will finally establish trial by jury, fulfilling the constitutional mandate  and we will modernize the Penal Code”, said the President.   

WATCH THE VIDEO

Time has not passed in vain and the Argentine provinces have shown in the last five years that the jury trial is a resounding cultural and political success.

The AAJJ celebrates with joy this announcement of the President and predicts the greatest success.

CHUBUT passed the trial by jury law and brings back to life the ancient tradition brought by the settlers from the country of Wales

Wales, Argentina and the Patagonic
province of Chubut, united by trial by jury

It wasn´t just another day in the province of Chubut. It was a  historic day, full of  excitement due to the local Parliament’a unanimous sanctioning of the right to trial by jury law which is mandated by the Argentinian Constitution. This jury bill symbolizes a return to the noble, ancient democratic and republican tradition that the settlers from Wales brought to Chubut in July 25, 1865.

A recreation of the arrival of the Welsh settlers

Few people are aware of a historic incident involving trial by jury which took place in Chubut, Argentina during the XIX century. In 1863, President Bartolomé Mitre ordered his Secretary of State, Guillermo Rawson, to carry out all the necessary negotiations to guarantee the immigration of three thousand Welsh settlers in the Chubut Valley which by then was an inmense territory in Patagonia inhabited by only a few Indian tribes.

Rawson met with Captain J. Love Jones-Parry and Reverend Lewis Jones and agreed to grant land under the promise by the State that they would have total freedom to retain their language, their religion and their local laws. The Welsh men and women arrived aboard the Mimosa sailboat and disembarked at Punta Cuevas.

The Welsh Museum,
Gaiman City

Those brave men and women from Wales brought jury trials to this land and that is part of their great legacy. From 1865 to 1879, and with the full consent of the National Government of Argentina, the Welshmen of Chubut tried by jury all criminal and civil matters exceeding 5 pounds.

The records of those cases and jury verdicts can be seen  today in the beautiful city of Gaiman, considered a kind of a Little Wales. It was the first public jury trial experience consistent with the Constitution in force in 1853. Today, thanks to this jury trial law, Chubut pays off its debt to the Constitution and pays a well-deserved tribute to the jury tradition that came from Wales 154 years ago.

Chubut can today display with legitimate pride before the rest of Argentina its vibrant past and its luminous present with the jury trial.

The records of the jury trials

Profs. Shari Diamond, Andrés Harfuch
and John Gastil with the records

PAST, PRESENT AND CENTRAL 
FIGURES OF THE LAW

In 1994, and at the request of the great jurist and constitutionalist José Raúl Heredia, Chubut ammended its Constitution and crystallized among its provisions a wide catalog of citizen participation in justice. Lay people are represented in the Council of the Magistracy to select the judges and also establishes the classic jury trial for all ordinary crimes and a mixed court for public corruption cases.

José Raúl Heredia

In 2000, an advanced criminal procedural code was passed, drafted entirely by the famous Professor Julio Maier. This code, which unfortunately never entered into force, put the public trial with jurors as the central figure of the procedure.

Julio Maier

In November 2006, Chubut sanctioned its current criminal procedure code, which is completely oral, public and adversarial. A new feature is that it included a profound reform of the judicial organization and of the public prosecution and the public defense. It established a pool of judges and left the basis to establish the jury trial by a special law. This code was the product of the intense work in the country of INECIP and a  great jurist, Alberto Binder who has also strong roots in Chubut.

Alberto Binder

However, after the first experience of Córdoba in 2005, the jury fever invaded the country in 2011. Since Neuquén (2011) and Buenos Aires (2013) sanctioned their classic jury bills and successfully carried out more than 350 trials, many other provinces start to install and/or propose their own jury laws and carry out their first trials.

Examples include: Río Negro (2013), Chaco (2015), Mendoza (2018), San Juan (2018), Entre Ríos (2019) and Chubut (2019). Salta, Santa Fe, CABA and La Rioja are discussiong their own bills in their local Legislatures. Even Tierra del Fuego is seriously discussing the introduction of the civil jury.

Mendoza has already performed twelve trials in 2019 and Chaco held its first jury trial less than a month ago. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR 2018) and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN 2019) also recently confirmed the absolute constitutional status of the jury trial which further legitimizes the process.

THE SANCTION OF THE LAW 

SEE CHUBUT´S JURY LAW HERE: VER

The final steps for Chubut´s Jury law took place during the 2015-2019 period. The governor Mario Das Neves imposed it with great force on the political agenda in 2017. Alfredo Perez Galimberti, who is a prominent member of the INECIP and  the AAJJ, contributed to the drafting of the jury bill.

During those years, U.S. professors Shari Damond, Valerie Hans, John Gastil and local scholars like Andrés Harfuch, Alfredo Pérez Galimberti, Mario Juliano and Denise Bakrokar toured the province, along with many others. (visita de Shari Diamond y John Gastil) (visita de Valerie Hans).

Finally, on December 3, 2019, under the leadership of Representatives Adrián López (Chubut Somos Todos), Eduardo Conde (UCR-Cambiemos) and Gabriela Dufour (PJ-FPV) and several other interventions of all political parties, the jury law was approved unanimously.

WATCH THE MOMENT OF THE APPROVAL 

Representative Adrián López

Representative Eduardo Conde

The famous jury records

See news here:

- El Comodorense (3/12/19): "La Legislatura aprobó la Ley de Juicio por Jurados" (ver)

-ADNSur (3/12(19): "Desde el próximo año, Chubut tendrá juicios por jurados" (ver)

-ADNSur (5/12(19):"La herencia galesa: Chubut fue la primera provincia argentina en implementar los juicios por jurado" (ver)