Ph.D. University of Minnesota (2012, Political Science)
Dr. Verónica Michel (also known as Verónica Michel-Luviano) is Associate Professor of Political Science at John Jay College-CUNY. Originally from Mexico City, she obtained a B.A. in International Relations from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Her research has focused on victim rights, public prosecutor’s offices, criminal procedure reform, rule of law, and comparative and international criminal justice, with a regional focus on Latin America. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as International Studies Quarterly, Law and Society Review, and the Journal of Human Rights.
The interdisciplinary nature of Dr. Michel's work has been well received among political scientists and criminologists. Her book, entitled Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America (published in 2018 by Cambridge University Press), received the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the International Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Also, her article "Human Rights Prosecutions and the Participation Rights of Victims in Latin America" (co-authored with Kathryn Sikkink) received the 2014 Best Journal Article Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. This award recognizes the best journal article on law and courts written by a political scientist that was published in the previous calendar year.
Dr. Michel is also the International Criminal Justice BA Program Director. She previously served as consultant in the Transitional Justice Research Collaborative and in 2018 she taught a course at the Academy for Security Analysis, a USAID project that provides training in data analysis to judicial actors and civil society. Her research has been supported by various PSC-CUNY grants, as well as by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
ICJ310, ICJ715, ICJ770, POL259, POL320, POL385-6, POL409, HR702
Law and Society Association, International Studies Association, Latin American Studies Association, American Political Science Association
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (for all publications consult the CV)
Books
(2018) Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press)
Recent Peer-reviewed articles
(2021) “Institutional Design, Prosecutorial Independence, and Accountability: Lessons from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)” Laws 10(3): 58.
(2020) “Judicial Reform and Legal Opportunity Structure: The Emergence of Strategic Litigation Against Femicide in Mexico” Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 82: 27-54
(2016) “Human Rights Enforcement From Below: Private Actors and Prosecutorial Momentum in Latin America and Europe” (Co-authored with G. Dancy) International Studies Quarterly 60(1): 173-188.
2020 Outstanding Book Award from the International Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
2018 Donal E.J. MacNamara Junior Faculty Award from John Jay College-CUNY.
2014 Best Journal Article Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. For the article: Michel & Sikkink (2013) “Human Rights Prosecutions and the Participation Rights of Victims in Latin America” Law and Society Review 47(4): 873-907.
Dr. Verónica Michel is a political scientist whose interdisciplinary research has focused on the right to private prosecution and the Public Prosecutor's Office. Her work is best summarized in her book, "Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America" (Cambridge University Press, 2018). In this book, Michel explains how the right to private prosecution has helped victims to fight for justice when a state is failing to investigate and prosecute crime. The book also argues that grassroots litigation efforts are helping build the rule of law from below in Latin America. Her current research agenda covers the following topics: procedural justice, impunity, criminal procedure reform in Latin America, femicide in Latin America, access to justice, the use of civil (tort) law for human rights litigation, and the historical emergence of victims’ rights. She is currently the PI of the INL-funded project "Accusatorial. Transition Report," which aims to assess the impact of the transition to an accusatorial model in criminal justice on rule of law and procedural justice in four countries in Central America.