ANNUAL LECTURE JUDGES, CITIZENS, AND A DEMOCRATIC RULE OF LAW: BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL TRUSTWORTHINESS TO RECOVER PUBLIC TRUST

This article argues that even though in Chile several successful reforms have been made, such as the Criminal Procedure re-form, the Labor Procedure reform and the Family courts reform, public confidence in the justice system is still very low. It is argued that this gap should serve as an alert to legal professionals and policymakers in Chile that it is time to rethink and adjust the reform agenda. The article claims that the Chilean justice system must attend to its trustworthiness, which requires that it better incorporate and serve the fundamental principles of democracy, under Lincoln’s famous conception of a democratic government as one that is “of, by, and for the people”. To accomplish this task, a new set of reforms is suggested aimed at making the justice system more democratically trustworthy and, therefore, capable of recovering citizens’ trust.