ABSTRACT
During the decade that began in 1991, e orts to reform the police forces multiplied in Latin America. One factor that motivated these e orts was the signing of peace accords between the government and representatives of the armed opposition in El Salvador and Guatemala in 1991 and 1996, respectively. In both cases, the peace accords stipulated the creation of new civilian police forces to replace the former police that had operated under the auspices of the military. ese reforms involved a variety of international actors and were carried out in parallel with institutional changes that a ected the criminal justice system via the introduction of oral trials and accusatory procedural systems (Stanley, 1999, p. 113-134; see also Neild, 2002).
