This article examines how certain human rights abuses in state institutions can emerge not from strategic repression, but due to misaligned bureaucratic incentives.
Data & Methods:
The study analyzes responses within Haiti's criminal justice system following a randomized intervention providing free legal assistance to detainees held illegally during pretrial detention.
Key Findings:**
Legal aid significantly accelerated case processing and increased detainee liberation rates, demonstrating that large-scale rights violations can stem from poor governance rather than deliberate repression.
Why It Matters:**
The findings highlight how bureaucratic structures themselves can become a source of human rights problems even when officials lack malicious intent. This insight helps distinguish between intentional political repression and institutional failures in governance.
The intervention addressed moral hazard issues within the justice bureaucracy, revealing that seemingly unintentional harms can still cause significant damage to citizens' rights.
