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Given the nature of my work, I would say I wear many "academic hats". I am a comparativist and a human rights scholar. I also consider myself a law and society scholar. Although my passion has been to study the right to private prosecution and the Public Prosecutor's Offices in Latin America, currently my research agenda includes the following topics: procedural justice and impunity, criminal procedure reform in Latin America, femicide in Latin America, the use of civil (tort) law for human rights litigation, and the historical emergence of victims’ rights.

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My work is best summarized in my first book Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims’ Rights in Latin America (published in 2018 by Cambridge University Press). In this book I look into how private prosecution works as an accountability mechanism in Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico. Overall this book speaks to issues of legal mobilization, cause lawyering, the interactions between domestic and international law, state capacity, and rule of law.

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In 2020 my book won the Outstanding Book Award from the International Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Recent reviews of my book can be found here (in English, written by Dr. Diana Kapiszewski) and here (in Spanish, written by Prof. Mauricio Duce). 

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ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Michel_Prosecutorial Acc & VR_Jacket(1).

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OTHER PUBLICATIONS

WORKING PAPERS

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  • “The Emergence and Diffusion of Victims’ Rights in Latin America” (under review)

  • “Specializing Justice: NGOs, Access to Justice, and Women's Rights in Latin America" (co-authored with S. D. Walsh)

  • "Foreign Aid and Judicial Reform in Latin America”. 

  • “Democracy and Human Rights in Mexico”

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