Introduction
To begin this paper, I will commence by given a few brief facts about Guatemala overall as a country. When comparing this country to the Unites States in terms of population the difference is significant with Guatemala having a population of 15 million people while the Unites States has a population of 323.1 million people according to the last study done in 2016. The major language spoken in this country is Spanish as opposed to English. Major religion is being a Christian, as they practice Christianity. To further your understanding on their beliefs and culture, Christianity is the teachings of Jesus. Mainly, this religion believes that Christ died on the cross as a payment of all of our sins and wrongdoings. They believe that Christ has done all of the work needed for us. Guatemala became an independent state in September 15, 1821. Being an independent state was that this country exercised self-government and sovereignty over their territory. In comparison to the Unites States where they celebrate their Independence Day as July Fourth, as we all may know it.
Courts and Criminal Law
The police in Guatemala is called the Policia Nacional Civil, which in English means, National Civil Police. The director general would be the highest rank in their department. Although, he does not do it all on his own there are five other agencies who assist as well including the Private Department, Social Communication Department, Legal Assistance Department, General department and lastly Executive Department. All of these departments have certain responsibilities to help assist the director general. In Guatemala, in order to become a part of the National Civil Police one must go through the police academy. In comparison to the United States one must also go through an academy to become a police officer. In Guatemala, the weakness of the Guatemalan police is the effort and lack of training that the officers have. In addition, these officers in Guatemala lack school education. On the other hand, in the United States, Police Officers are required at least a high school diploma although most go on and continue their education in receiving an Associate’s degree. When comparing Guatemala to the United States when dealing with guns in the police department, there is a huge difference. The National Civil Police of Guatemala lacks the necessary equipment such as guns due to money. On the other hand, the United States has so many guns that Police officers are fearful because when for example pulling over a car, the police have to worry about whether or not that car could have a firearm inside.
Crime in Guatemala very common and is a serious problem because it continues to increase, actually one of the highest countries in Latin America. Crimes deal with assault, robbery, theft, kidnapping and murder. The crime rate is so high because since police in Guatemala are not paid enough, some let criminals get away with these types of crimes. In the Unites States, crime has declined although nothing is ever precisely certain because not all crimes are reported to the police.
In the United States, we go by an adversarial system meaning that the judge acts as an umpire and the prosecution and defense compete against each other. In addition, since 1994 the Guatemalan judicial system follows a similar way of the United States adversarial system as well. The criminal prosecution in Guatemala is also similar to the U.S because they include a probable cause hearing as well as an oral trial. The main difference is that in the United States the jury could help determine the guilt of the accused.
Punishment
In Guatemala, there is given fines as way of punishment. Fines are usually a penalty in which money is decided to be paid as punishment for a crime or for some type of offense. Corporal punishment is usually done by tribes and in public which means the offenders will receive a large number of whippings on their backs while being shirtless. This is considered part of the Mayan Culture and is done because of a religions traditional punishments. After the whippings in this certain case, the offender will be given to the National Civil Police afterwards to continue further punishment. In Guatemala punishment has low numbers due to the fact that many criminals get away with the crime they committed. That’s not the case in the United States, we believe that everyone should be punished for a criminal act with prison or other ways such as the death penalty depending on what law was broken. The death penalty can be defined as the punishment of execution, given to someone who committed a capital crime. In Guatemala, the first act of death penalty was done in 1996 by a firing squad. While in 1998 the first lethal injection was done which is an injection as forms of capital punishment.
Governance
Guatemala is a civil law country, and contains three branches of government just like the United States. Those three branches are legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative branch is the part of the United States government that makes the laws. The executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws. Lastly, judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the laws. Guatemalan officials are positioned by votes of the citizen, in relation to the United States. Elections in Guatemala are done in schools, church’s and public buildings just like the United States, voting is optional.
The president in Guatemala cannot be re reelected in contrast to the United States. The president of Guatemala is the one that is in charge as head of state and head of government. Currently, the president is Jimmy Morales Cabrera since 2016 for four years. In comparison, in the United States the president is also in charge, but has the opportunity to be reelected. In Guatemala in order for a president to be elected he or she must be at least 40-year-old and must be a citizen of Guatemala with good standing and Guatemalan origin. On the other hand, for a president to be elected in the United States he or she must be at least 35 years old, be a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years and lastly, be a natural born citizen of the United States.
Issues
In Guatemala, there is several major issues that is happening right now. There is corruption happening throughout politics, government and even law enforcement officers. They accept bribes in exchange for favors which cause justice to not be served and people to act corruptly. This leads to many more violent crimes to happen, since these criminals know they will not be punished they go ahead and commit these acts. This co relates to gangs, Guatemalan police do not have the necessary resources to stop these criminals. Lastly, the large amounts of money that is being sent to Guatemalans from the United States cause people living in Guatemala to not work and commit act of violence and get into gangs.
In addition, women in Guatemala are being abused and killed and it seems usual to them. According to the United Nations, two women are killed there every day. Guatemala ranks third in the country for killings of women worldwide. While in the United States the major issue with women is abortion and pro-choice/pro-life. Some laws and beliefs of United States citizens are scaring women that need to do abortions causing them to not go through with it or causing them to have an illegal abortion which is hazardous to one’s health and body.
Conclusion
To finish off, throughout this paper one could see the many similarities as well as differences that two countries can have, in this case, Guatemala and the United States. One is used to living in the U.S not noticing the criminal justice systems in another country. Guatemala for example, uses many different criminal procedures but at the same time reflects the procedures of the United States. In this paper, the goal was to describe Guatemala and the different issues, criminal procedures and its legal history when in contrast to the United States.