Presumed Guilty?
Revolutionizing the Criminal Justice
System in Mexico
March 19, 2012
Matthew C. Ingram
Visiting Fellow, Kellogg Institute (2011-2012)
University of Notre Dame
mingram@nd.edu
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
University at Albany, SUNY
1
Overview
I.
Challenges to legal system
1)
2)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
internal: institutional capacity
external: crime and insecurity
Criminal Procedure Reform of 2008
Judicial Survey (Justiciabarómetro)
Attitudes
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
Pending Challenges
2
Internal Challenges:
Weak Institutional Capacity
• Weak law
enforcement capacity
and/or complicity with
organized crime;
• Ineffective justice
system (criminal
impunity, weak
prisons)
All Crimes / Cifra negra
Known Crimes
25 of 100 crimes are reported (25%)
Criminal Investigations
4.6 of of 25 crimes investigated (18%)
Crimes Prosecuted
1.6 of 4.6 investigated (35%)
Crimes Brought to Trial
1.2 of 1.6 prosecuted crimes (75%)
Crimes
Sentenced
1.1 of crimes
tried (91%)
Source: Guillermo Zepeda Lecuona (2007). Numbers rounded to nearest tenth.
3
Internal Challenges:
Weak Institutional Capacity
• Law enforcement: ineffectiveness vs. corruption
• no autonomous discretion to conduct investigations
separately from public prosecutors
• Little to no training in crime scene protection and
evidence preservation (field evidence techniques)
• Little to no training in effective interviewing,
informant development, intelligence
• corruption
4
The Problem of Corruption
Police Survey: On a scale of 1-4 indicate the
level of corruption on the police force
40.0%
32.8%
30.0%
22.6%
19.5%
15.9%
20.0%
9.1%
10.0%
.0%
Cero
NADA
Uno
Dos
Tres
2009 Justiciabarómetro: Guadalajara Municipal Police Survey
Cuatro
MUCHA
The Problem of Corruption
Police Survey: At what level on the force is
corruption the greatest?
2009 Justiciabarómetro: Guadalajara Municipal Police Survey
Internal Challenges:
Weak Institutional Capacity
• Law enforcement: ineffectiveness vs. corruption
• no autonomous discretion to conduct investigations
separately from public prosecutors
• Little to no training in crime scene protection and evidence
preservation (field evidence techniques)
• Little to no training in effective interviewing, informant
development, intelligence
• corruption
o solutions thus far also ineffective
o long line of police reforms restructuring federal agencies,
group patrols, relocation, further reduction of discretion
• *** displacement of civil policing model by militarizing fight
against organized crime
7
Internal Challenges:
Weak Institutional Capacity
• Ineffective justice system
• long delays or inaction, especially if poor
• system generally seen as unresponsive or abusive/unfair
• Examples from judicial process:
• accused generally held in custody, even pre-trial, in general
population, and legal appearances are from behind bars
• prosecution works closely with judge
• evidence considered in investigation and entered into file
(“expediente”) has probatory value
• accused and defense attorney do not see all evidence or file
until hearing
• process is largely conducted in writing, adding documents and
written responses to file
• judge at initial hearing is same judge at trial
• “Presumed guilty?”
8
External Challenges: Crime and Insecurity
Drug-related Killings
Total between Dec. 2006 and Dec. 2011: more than 50,000
Source: Ríos, Viridiana, and David A. Shirk (2011), “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2010”
9
http://justiceinmexico.org/publications/justice-in-mexico-project
External Challenges: Crime and Insecurity
10
External Challenges: Crime and Insecurity
11
External Challenges: Crime and Insecurity
Journalists killed
Source: Molzahn, Cory, Viridiana Ríos, and David A. Shirk (2012), “Drug Violence in Mexico:
Data and Analysis Through 2011”, http://justiceinmexico.org/publications/justice-in-mexico-project
Total of 111 incidents between 2000 and June 2011:
75 killed, 13 disappeared, and 23 violent attempts
Source: FEADLE (PGR)
12
Overview
I.
Challenges to legal system
1)
2)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
internal: institutional capacity
external: crime and insecurity
Criminal Procedure Reform of 2008
Judicial Survey (Justiciabarómetro)
Attitudes
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
Pending Challenges
13
Criminal Procedure Reform
Timing of Implementation (as of 3/2011)
14
Overview
I.
Challenges to legal system
1)
2)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
internal: institutional capacity
external: crime and insecurity
Criminal Procedure Reform of 2008
Judicial Survey (Justiciabarómetro)
Attitudes
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
Pending Challenges
15
New Data:
Justiciabarómetro Surveys
Surveys of criminal justice system professionals
(1) 2009/2010: police in Guadalajara, Ciudad
Juarez
(2) 2010: judges, prosecutors, and defense
attorneys in 9 states
Source: Ingram, Matthew C., Octavio Rodriguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk (2011),
“Justiciabarómetro: Survey of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders in Nine Mexican States.”
Available at: http://justiceinmexico.org/publications/justice-in-mexico-project/
16
Justiciabarómetro
states in 2010 survey of judges and lawyers
17
Justiciabarómetro 2010
Respondents by state and profession
Judge
12
Prosecutors
6
Public
Defenders
36
Coahuila
17
0
15
32
Chihuahua
21
0
0
21
Jalisco
30
0
0
30
Michoacán
33
0
0
33
Nuevo León
20
12
8
40
Oaxaca
20
20
0
40
Yucatán
5
0
0
5
Zacatecas
13
0
0
13
Total
171
38
59
268
State
Baja California
Total
54
18
Justiciabarómetro
Response Rates by State and Profession
State
Prosecutor
R
N
Public Defender
%
Judge
R
N
%
R
N
%
Baja California
6
10
60
36
115
31.30
12
27
44.44
Coahuila
0
--
--
15
46
32.61
17
25
68.00
Chihuahua
0
--
--
0
[na]
[na]
21
86
24.42
Jalisco
0
--
--
0
[na]
[na]
30
132
22.73
Michoacán
0
--
--
0
--
--
33
39
85.62
Nuevo León
12
76
15.79
8
116
6.90
20
54
37.04
Oaxaca
20
[na]
[na]
0
--
--
20
61
32.79
Yucatán
0
--
--
0
--
--
5
12
41.67
Zacatecas
0
--
--
0
--
--
13
42
30.95
19
Justiciabarómetro 2010
20
Overview
I.
Challenges to legal system
1)
2)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
internal: institutional capacity
external: crime and insecurity
Criminal Procedure Reform of 2008
Judicial Survey (Justiciabarómetro)
Attitudes
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
Pending Challenges
21
Traditional system was “effective and efficient”
22
Confidence in prior system
(that own rights would be respected, guilty be caught)
23
Like results of 2008 reform?
24
Other countries with reform have shown it works
25
Will new system reduce corruption?
26
Will new system reduce criminality?
27
Overview
I.
Challenges to legal system
1)
2)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
internal: institutional capacity
external: crime and insecurity
Criminal Procedure Reform of 2008
Judicial Survey (Justiciabarómetro)
Attitudes
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
Pending Challenges
28
Criminal Procedure Reform
Timing of Implementation (as of 3/2011)
29
Factors Helping and Hindering Reform
I.
Helping
–
–
–
–
Implementation
Legal education
Leadership
Networking
II. Hindering
–
–
–
Older generation of judges and magistrados
Poor coordination across institutions
Sensational attention to “errors” of the system
•
Chihuahua; Durango
– Resources
– Electoral politics
*** Time ***
30
Pending Challenges
1) Re-assert Civilian Policing Model
•
part of long-term security and development strategy
2) Police Autonomy and Discretion
•
•
long line of failed police reforms
difficult to do if capacity is low and corruption is high
3) Intelligence Capacity
•
•
at all levels
perhaps most importantly at local levels
4) Real Preventive Mindset
•
•
Consider: even if every part of the reform works well
today, what keeps more people – mostly young men –
from joining crime organizations tomorrow?
Whose responsibility?
31
Thank you!
32