• Drug Law Reform in Ecuador

    Building Momentum for a More Effective, Balanced and Realistic Approach
    Sandra Edwards Coletta Youngers
    TNI/WOLA Memo
    May 2010

    In Ecuador, the Correa government’s comprehensive justice sector reform project includes significant changes in drug legislation. The country has one of the most punitive drug laws in the hemisphere. In a perversion of justice, those accused of drug offenses are assumed guilty unless they can prove their innocence, mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines ensure excessively long sentences and arrest quotas have led to the imprisonment of growing numbers of those at the lowest end of the drug trafficking trade.

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  • Pardon for Mules in Ecuador

    A Sound Proposal
    Pien Metaal
    Series Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 1
    February 2009

    At the end of 2008, about 1,500 persons were released who were in Ecuadorian prisons sentenced for drug trafficking. The measure, known as “pardon for mules,” singled out a specific group of prisoners who were victims of indiscriminate and disproportionate legislation that was in effect for many years.

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