About Us
Every individual has the absolute right to the protection of a criminal justice system.
Every individual, without regard to culture, race, or economic status, has the absolute right to the protection of a criminal justice system that duly addresses crime. Such a system depends on the existence of universal procedural tools that provide such social protection.
The Principals
Kim Lindquist
Defense Attorney and Federal Prosecutor
For eight years (1979 to 1987) Lindquist worked as a criminal defense attorney. As such, in both State and Federal courts, he litigated hundreds of cases that involved a full range of crimes, from homicide to drug trafficking to fraud.
From May of 1987 through December of 2014, Lindquist served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Department of Justice. In that capacity he advised investigations and tried cases in the district courts of the United States (including as to Native American reservations) and its territories. His experience has included complex cases of homicide, drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, asset forfeiter (civil and criminal), public corruption and national and international terrorism.
Experience in Foreign Criminal Justice Systems
As a career prosecutor, Lindquist has been involved over the years in the investigation and prosecution of cases in the international arena. Such activities have been directed at such crimes as drug trafficking, organized crime and international terrorism; and have involved countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Afghanistan and the transnational Caribbean.
Moreover, Lindquist is a world authority in comparative law and criminal justice reform, particularly that of Latin America. As such, since 1993, he has been one of the principal actors in the design, implementation and/or supervision of criminal justice system development in countries of both hemispheres, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and countries of Southern Europe. He has otherwise engaged in the study and interpretation of criminal procedure codes of various other countries.
Carl Risheim
For over 30 years Carl Risheim has worked in the investigation of domestic and international crime in both government and private sectors in countries around the world. His work includes advising government agencies as to investigative techniques and strategies, as well as police developmental standards.
Carl Risheim was recently the (IADLEST) Program Manager for the Colombian National Police Standards Center in Bogota, Colombia.
Before joining the IADLEST team in October 2022, he served as Program Manager and Law Enforcement Assistance Attache for the US Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP). While working with DOJ for over 26 years, he was responsible for designing and implementing justice sector reform, police, investigative, and forensic development programs in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nepal, and North Macedonia.
In 1988, he started his federal government career as a criminal investigator and security specialist for the US Treasury Department. After 15 years of service, he left government service from 2002–2010, where he enjoyed a successful career managing complex transnational counterfeit and internet investigations for Phillip Morris International, Microsoft Corporation, and Hewlett Packard Company in Latin America. He returned to the Department of Justice in 2010 to open the ICITAP office in Mexico City.
Carl is a native Spanish speaker, was born in Bogota, Colombia, and grew up in a multicultural environment. He has received numerous awards from the Department of Justice and foreign law enforcement agencies throughout Latin America, Asia, and Europe in recognition of his contributions to the development of law enforcement agencies in those regions.
Bridging Justice: Resolving Procedural Clashes in Criminal Systems
The mission of KLI is that of providing such key procedural tools to functionaries, administrators, politicians, academics, and civil society to whom the particular criminal justice system corresponds.
Many, if not most, of the criminal justice systems of the world are a mixture of accusatory concepts and mechanisms (the English Common Law legacy) and inquisitorial (the Roman Civil Law of Iberian or Continental legacy). The supposed purpose of the mixture is that of gaining the best of both procedural worlds; that is, to acquire the efficiency, efficacy, and justice of the accusatory form on the one hand, and on the other retain the familiar, customary inquisitorial form. Instead of establishing procedural harmony in congruence and due resolution of cases, however, the result is a procedural clash of concepts and mechanisms that only serves to increase lawlessness in debilitating case corruption and congestion; and with the associated frustration of functionaries and citizens equally.
Even outside the mixed legal context, all criminal justice systems participate to one degree or another in the same procedural challenges and difficulties, thereby qualifying as candidates and beneficiaries of the KLI BLUEPRINT expertise.