In less than one month, sentences increase 1,566 percent in Brazilian courts

For more than a month, Brazilian citizens have been protesting government corruption and misspending as preparations for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics are well underway. With the eyes of many on the country, large groups have peacefully and not so peacefully demonstrated against the government. This is going on as the country’s judicial system looks to improve its performance.

According to reports, the Court of Mato Grosso has dramatically improved its ability to close cases. Up through June 25 of this year, the court had only tried six cases of misconduct in 2013.  Since then 88 additional cases have been sentenced, which is an increase of 1,566 percent

This is part of a concentrated effort by the court to improve its standing when it comes to judgments in civil lawsuits and criminal cases against the public administration. In the 20 days since June 25, the Court of Mato Grosso jumped from 19th place to 13th percent, according to the National Council of Justice (CNJ). The target had been to improve just one notch to 18th.

So far this year, cases of corruption involving the Public Administration have increased 13.3 percent in the trials. Criminal cases increased 14.95 percent. They were also able to decrease the backlog of cases that were pending from previous years, from 3,038 down to 1,756.

The court was able to make this massive improvement by adding four more judges to the judicial unit. Cases that involved corruption were also prioritized. Crimes Involving Taxes and the Economy and Crime Against the Public Administration were considered to be decisive in increasing the number of sentences.