A civic model of justice:

It is enough to talk about judicial independence

Abstract

This paper discusses the judiciary demand for internal independence in Chile, in the context of a process of Constitutional change. It claims that a rather superficial understanding of the principle could make it difficult to face the main judicial challenge in the country, which is the complete disengagement of the public and the judiciary, its increasing lack of legitimacy and ultimately the risk to Judicial Independence itself, as a consequence of such socio-political conditions. The paper proposes the need for a balance between Judiciary Independence and judicial accountability, introducing innovative mechanisms and structures with a clear focus: distribute power within the judiciary, connect with civic society and foster a culture of Judicial Independence and accountability as the best guardian of the autonomy that judges need in order to adjudicate in a democratic context.