New Legal Categories in Colombia’s Transitional Justice Institution, the JEP

This project interviews judges and employees in Colombia’s innovative transitional justice institution, Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP). The project follows two of the JEP's ten “macro cases,” which are built on sociological investigations of who was harmed in the conflict and how. For perpetrators who participate fully in the JEP process, alternate non prison sanctions that assist in community reconstruction and reconciliation should be proposed, although no cases have completed this stage yet. This project investigates Macro Case #1, kidnappings conducted by Colombia’s rebel group, FARC, and Macro Case # 3, the "false positives" case, where government agents murdered young men to count their bodies as victories over rebels. The project will produce articles and a book.