ABSTRACT
Following the Pinochet dictatorship, the new democratic government of Chile modernized the country’s institutions and laws, including major reforms to the criminal justice system. As such it represents an instance of transitional justice defined broadly as “the recovery of the rule of law and justice after mass violence” (Humphrey and Valverde 2008). Despite the new government’s attempts to rectify the past, Chilean citizens viewed the reform agenda with skepticism. Over time there was a fundamental difference between the political leadership’s ideologically inspired human rights emphasis, and ordinary citizens’ perceptions concerning the effects of legal changes in the criminal justice system.
