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From the WSJ today. Mexico trying to become a more just democracy? Talk about a win for civil liberties. This might help stop the run for the border. Indeed, some of us might now run for the border.
Also, Interesting that Mexico kept the Napoleonic code thus far. I know that France was involved in Mexico in the 1864 area (the only major infraction to the Monore Doctrine I can recall at first hand).
Mexico's Fox
Unveils Revision
Of Legal System
Bold Plan Aims to Mend
A Broken-Down Process;
No More 'Scarecrow' Police
By DAVID LUHNOW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 30, 2004; Page A16
MEXICO CITY -- One man is tortured to confess to a crime he says he didn't commit. Another sits in jail for nine months awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a piece of bread. A third man is sentenced to eight years for stealing a cellular phone.
Welcome to the Mexican justice system.
In a bold bid to change sad but true stories like these, Mexico's President Vicente Fox yesterday unveiled a sweeping revision of the country's broken-down legal system, where an estimated 99% of crimes go unpunished while jails are crammed with people who are falsely accused, await trial, or committed a petty crime, according to government statistics.
"Now is the time to show that together we can get rid of corruption, lack of accountability, inequality and injustice" in the nation's courts, said Mr. Fox, who in 2000 became Mexico's first president in seven decades who didn't belong to the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Mexico has carried out bold changes in the past two decades, opening its economy to the outside world and cleaning up its elections to usher in a democratic vote. But the country still lacks a credible rule of law -- the missing link in its transformation to a modern democracy on the doorstep of the U.S. At best, justice is slow and arbitrary; at worst, it goes to the highest bidder.
A capricious rule of law affects not only Mexicans but foreign visitors and investors as well. In one of many such examples, Dutch banking and insurance titan ING Groep NV invested more than $3 billion in Mexico in recent years, only to find itself trapped in a legal nightmare over a routine civil case involving an alleged underpayment on an insurance policy to a fertilizer company. Questionable decisions by Mexican judges have forced 13 ING executives in Mexico into hiding to avoid arrest, and froze some $300 million of company assets until the case is resolved.
Mr. Fox's overhaul, aimed at making Mexican courtrooms look a lot more like those in the U.S. and Europe, would significantly rewrite Mexico's Constitution and laws, based on 19th century Napoleonic Code. The proposed changes would require amending eight constitutional articles and include such basics as presuming a defendant's innocence rather than guilt, substituting oral hearings for written trials and only allowing confessions in front of a defense attorney and judge. One thing that won't change: A judge, rather than a jury of one's peers, would continue to determine guilt or innocence.
Such big thinking could run aground in Mexico's divided Congress, where Mr. Fox's initiatives to change Mexico's tax and labor codes or allow foreign investment in its energy sector have been blocked. But aides to Mr. Fox say this revision stands a good chance of passing because it deals with issues that all parties agree need attention.
"It's hard to think of a more compelling statement of the importance of Mr. Fox's election victory than starting to build a clean, honest judicial process," said Peter Hakim, head of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington. Mr. Hakim and others, however, warn how difficult it will be to carry out the changes, even if Congress approves them. Police, judges and lawyers across Mexico will basically have to relearn their jobs, say officials.
Mexicans have so little faith in their courts that only one-fourth of crimes are reported in Mexico City, while only one of 10 reported crimes nationwide leads to an arrest, government statistics show. In other countries, about half of all crimes are reported. Trials for the most mundane crimes take years in Mexico, leaving the accused in jail and costing taxpayers. Two-thirds of the people incarcerated haven't completed their trials, government figures show.
Under the current system, prosecutors investigate cases through police, gather evidence and essentially reach a verdict before passing it on to a judge, who usually affirms the prosecutors' findings. Overworked judges sometimes handle hundreds of cases a year, and the accused often get represented by someone who isn't a qualified lawyer. Only one in 10 of the accused ever sees the judge.
The proposed overhaul would change all that. Police would be independent from prosecutors to ensure impartiality, which is the case in most countries. And all police would be given powers to investigate; currently, the majority of cops are known as "scarecrows" -- walking the streets to deter crime but without legal powers to solve any.
The changes also would open trials to public scrutiny, with prosecutors and defense attorneys arguing their cases openly before a judge rather than submitting written statements that usually are kept secret until a trial is finished. To discourage torture, only confessions made in front of a judge and defense attorney would be deemed as weighty evidence. At the moment, officials estimate that one in five confessions are the result of torture.
In addition to creating a new court for juvenile defendants, the new blueprint also seeks to allow plea bargaining. Currently, Mexican law gives no benefit for a guilty plea, meaning most cases go to lengthy and costly trials. A new, swifter system would give judges the power to decide cases quickly for minor offenses and compensate victims.
Also, Interesting that Mexico kept the Napoleonic code thus far. I know that France was involved in Mexico in the 1864 area (the only major infraction to the Monore Doctrine I can recall at first hand).
Mexico's Fox
Unveils Revision
Of Legal System
Bold Plan Aims to Mend
A Broken-Down Process;
No More 'Scarecrow' Police
By DAVID LUHNOW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 30, 2004; Page A16
MEXICO CITY -- One man is tortured to confess to a crime he says he didn't commit. Another sits in jail for nine months awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a piece of bread. A third man is sentenced to eight years for stealing a cellular phone.
Welcome to the Mexican justice system.
In a bold bid to change sad but true stories like these, Mexico's President Vicente Fox yesterday unveiled a sweeping revision of the country's broken-down legal system, where an estimated 99% of crimes go unpunished while jails are crammed with people who are falsely accused, await trial, or committed a petty crime, according to government statistics.
"Now is the time to show that together we can get rid of corruption, lack of accountability, inequality and injustice" in the nation's courts, said Mr. Fox, who in 2000 became Mexico's first president in seven decades who didn't belong to the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Mexico has carried out bold changes in the past two decades, opening its economy to the outside world and cleaning up its elections to usher in a democratic vote. But the country still lacks a credible rule of law -- the missing link in its transformation to a modern democracy on the doorstep of the U.S. At best, justice is slow and arbitrary; at worst, it goes to the highest bidder.
A capricious rule of law affects not only Mexicans but foreign visitors and investors as well. In one of many such examples, Dutch banking and insurance titan ING Groep NV invested more than $3 billion in Mexico in recent years, only to find itself trapped in a legal nightmare over a routine civil case involving an alleged underpayment on an insurance policy to a fertilizer company. Questionable decisions by Mexican judges have forced 13 ING executives in Mexico into hiding to avoid arrest, and froze some $300 million of company assets until the case is resolved.
Mr. Fox's overhaul, aimed at making Mexican courtrooms look a lot more like those in the U.S. and Europe, would significantly rewrite Mexico's Constitution and laws, based on 19th century Napoleonic Code. The proposed changes would require amending eight constitutional articles and include such basics as presuming a defendant's innocence rather than guilt, substituting oral hearings for written trials and only allowing confessions in front of a defense attorney and judge. One thing that won't change: A judge, rather than a jury of one's peers, would continue to determine guilt or innocence.
Such big thinking could run aground in Mexico's divided Congress, where Mr. Fox's initiatives to change Mexico's tax and labor codes or allow foreign investment in its energy sector have been blocked. But aides to Mr. Fox say this revision stands a good chance of passing because it deals with issues that all parties agree need attention.
"It's hard to think of a more compelling statement of the importance of Mr. Fox's election victory than starting to build a clean, honest judicial process," said Peter Hakim, head of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington. Mr. Hakim and others, however, warn how difficult it will be to carry out the changes, even if Congress approves them. Police, judges and lawyers across Mexico will basically have to relearn their jobs, say officials.
Mexicans have so little faith in their courts that only one-fourth of crimes are reported in Mexico City, while only one of 10 reported crimes nationwide leads to an arrest, government statistics show. In other countries, about half of all crimes are reported. Trials for the most mundane crimes take years in Mexico, leaving the accused in jail and costing taxpayers. Two-thirds of the people incarcerated haven't completed their trials, government figures show.
Under the current system, prosecutors investigate cases through police, gather evidence and essentially reach a verdict before passing it on to a judge, who usually affirms the prosecutors' findings. Overworked judges sometimes handle hundreds of cases a year, and the accused often get represented by someone who isn't a qualified lawyer. Only one in 10 of the accused ever sees the judge.
The proposed overhaul would change all that. Police would be independent from prosecutors to ensure impartiality, which is the case in most countries. And all police would be given powers to investigate; currently, the majority of cops are known as "scarecrows" -- walking the streets to deter crime but without legal powers to solve any.
The changes also would open trials to public scrutiny, with prosecutors and defense attorneys arguing their cases openly before a judge rather than submitting written statements that usually are kept secret until a trial is finished. To discourage torture, only confessions made in front of a judge and defense attorney would be deemed as weighty evidence. At the moment, officials estimate that one in five confessions are the result of torture.
In addition to creating a new court for juvenile defendants, the new blueprint also seeks to allow plea bargaining. Currently, Mexican law gives no benefit for a guilty plea, meaning most cases go to lengthy and costly trials. A new, swifter system would give judges the power to decide cases quickly for minor offenses and compensate victims.
