Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), knowledge provision and criminal justice reform in Latin America: The case of INECIP

This paper explores the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in criminal justice reform in Latin America, often described, in a relatively simplistic way, as the shift from an ‘inquisitorial model’ to an ‘adversarial model’. Such shift is one of the most drastic changes that the penal field has undergone in the region in the past four decades. This transformation has NGOs among its crucial actors, with a strong level of influence as knowledge providers. Here, I seek to explore this role through a case study of the Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales (INECIP) founded in 1989 in Argentina. It is the only NGO specialised in this area that has had a truly regional scope, and has been working incessantly in diverse jurisdictions for 35 years. The paper anatomises the INECIP’s various forms of intervention, which have accumulated different types of knowledge over time, and describes the identities of its members as ‘experts’, ‘activists’ and ‘players’.