The rise in violence is the fault of local authorities, not the new Justice system, say Senators

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Reforma article

Subject Matter: New judicial system in Mexico
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Claudia Guerrero
Senators assured that the increment in violence and the criminal indexes in the country is a product of the incapacity of authorities and not because of the new system of accusatory Penal Justice. Pablo Esudero, said that the functionaries are evading their responsibilities in augmentation of insecurity in the Federal States.

" Some local authorities are accusing the new system for the increase in crime, but they are seeking to evade their obligations to build the capacity of the Police, finances and public ministries", he accused.

"The principal factor is the deficiency in the implementation of the accusatory model, and the guarantee of the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principal."




The legislator of the PVEM advertised that to return to the old judicial model, where the detained remain in prison without evidence, would be a regression, and that they will be vulnerable constantly to the processed rights of the imprisoned.

The ex President and Senator of the Justice Commission, Roberto Gill, also launched a crackdown on those who demand, for example, that informal prison for those caught with firearms be established.

The PAN Senator denounced that there is no Police investigation and that the failures registered so far in the implementation of the new system are due to the lack of capacity of the Public Ministries.

"We know that it is a more complete and perfectible reform, but a major part of the problems that we live with in the country are criminal in terms of impunity."

"This has more to do with the actions of the Public Ministries and the Police", he said. "They were not adequately prepared to deal with the new rules, half of their research does not reach determination. Most of the cases that are reported to the Judge are with detention, that is, in direct flagrancy, so it is not the Police that investigate the arrests."

Gill considered that the legislation grants the Public Ministries enough elements to convince the Judge to imprison the accused, but so far their performance in this has been poor, and that trying to solve the problem by expanding the list of crimes for which one could be imprisoned would be a setback.

"What they want is that the Public Ministries have a lower burden. We are facing the inability of the Mexican State to confront crime because there are no convictions in many crimes because there is a shortage of Police and its investigative capacity," he said.

Requirements are to comply with the arrests and initiate legal proceedings as if it was the American series "CSI" and we do not have the forensic experts in the middle of the country. We do not have the physical means to make the scientific tests in the terms that the law requires.

The law is adequate, but the implementation of it was cut off.

Original article in Spanish at Reforma