Judicial Review

Models of Judicial review

CRJ613: Comparative Criminal Justice System

Models of Judicial Review

In every nation, there is a set of laws that we must abide by. The laws are put into place to maintain order and to properly punish people for the crimes that they are accused of committing. When a person’s liberties are violated that is when judicial review comes into play. Judicial review allows the court system to review any law on any level of government to see if it was constitutional. When a law is inconsistent with the constitution and it violates a person’s rights or liberties then it is considered illegal and the law must be changed.

There are three models of judicial review and each modal has its own checks and balance system that help regulate the law. The first model of judicial review is the diffuse model. This model of judicial review focuses on all courts within the system and reviews their legislation to make sure that the laws are constitutional. When a law is found to be unconstitutional then the discrepancy is brought of the hierarchy of the judicial system so that it can be reviewed. In countries where the constitution’s foundation is not as strong as the United States a judge that is following the diffuse modal of judicial review is required to make sure that the higher law of the country takes precedence over the lower laws of the land.

Therefore, from the point that the law is changed any new cases that are brought into a court will require the legislative law to take effect and older cases are not applicable to the new change in the law. Every level of the court system has the right to review legislations that’s are passed to make sure that no one’s constitutional rights are violated. The diffuse system of judicial review is essentially the same idea in many countries with slight variations to maximize the effects of this type of review. For example, the diffuse judicial review in Mexico was like the legal traditions of the European country. Unlike the United States the judicial review system in Mexico does not give this type of power to all their court systems.

Mexico is not a stare decis country and because of that Mexico developed the jurisprudencia procedure which is like stare decisis. The development of this procedure makes it mandatory for all judicial authorities to comply with the law. The second model of judicial review is the concentrated model. This model of judicial review has a unique property in which they use either a single person as the country’s constitutional judge or they use any court system ranging from the Supreme Court to any specialized court as the highest court in the judicial hierarchy. While the diffuse model gives the judicial review power to all court systems the concentrated model only gives the judicial power to that judge or court system to see if the laws of the land are constitutional or not.

The concentrated modal of judicial review was providing by Australia. The Parliament recommends the members who they believe would be best suited to handle constitutional and jurisdictional complaints. The concentrated model is also employed by Italy as well. There are 15 members in this system and they all have at the minimum 20 years of experience in the field of law. Countries such as Costa Rica and Chile have all adopted the concentrated model of judicial review. The reviews for this model are carried out in special court proceedings and so they are not as widespread as other models.

The last model of judicial review is the mixed model. This model of judicial review is a combination of the diffuse and concentrated models. Countries such as Peru, Brazil and Columbia use this model of judicial review. Usually the Supreme Court is the court system that has the right to look at violations of a person’s constitutional rights but in countries where the mixed model review is used courts that do not conform to the constitution have the individual responsibility of making sure that laws that violate the constitution are not applied to the case.

Judicial review is very important not just in the United States but all the countries that is listed and the countries that have not been listed that utilize any of the three models. The diffuse, concentrated and mixed models of judicial review are used internationally and they help all countries keep their citizen’s constitutional rights preserved by giving them an outlet to air out their grievances within the criminal justice system. Whichever model is used in a country the main goal of the models of judicial review are to protect their citizens and keep their constitutional rights preserved.

References

Berkeleyedu. (2017). Berkeleyedu. Retrieved 4 April, 2017, from http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2712

Reichel, P. L. (2013). Comparative criminal justice systems: A topical approach (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Upennedu. (2017). Upennedu. Retrieved 6 April, 2017, from https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/conlaw/articles/volume3/issue3/Andrade3U.Pa.J.Const.L.977(2001).pdf

Wustledu. (2017). Wustledu. Retrieved 5 April, 2017, from http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1111