Mexico passes sweeping justice changes
MEXICO CITY - President Felipe Calderón signed legislation designed to fundamentally change Mexico's much-criticized justice system yesterday by allowing US-style oral trials and establishing a presumption of innocence for criminal defendants.
The sweeping measures also require local and state police departments to "purify" their ranks of corrupt officers, and they grant those agencies power to investigate organized crime, an authority that had previously been the exclusive domain of federal authorities. Calderón has said the changes are crucial to his battle against the drug cartels blamed for thousands of deaths each year.
"What is at stake is not the liberty, security, or integrity of the government, but, above all, the security, and integrity of the governed," Calderón said in a ceremony at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, in Mexico City.
The reforms were approved by Mexico's Congress and a majority of its state legislatures, marking a victory for Calderón, whose two predecessors had tried and failed to push similar legislation.
Many of the changes may take years to go into practice. Courtrooms will have to be remodeled to accommodate the public. And thousands of prosecutors and judges must be trained in a completely new style of administering justice. Under the law, the changes do not need to be fully implemented until 2016.
Criminal cases in Mexico are now conducted almost exclusively in written briefs. The public almost never observes criminal proceedings, and defendants are frequently held in prison for years before their cases are resolved.
Calderón did not get everything he wanted: His original proposal would have allowed police to conduct searches without warrants. But that provision was removed by Mexico's Congress after complaints from human rights organizations. After that defeat, Calderón's supporters compromised by including a special class of judges who would have the power to speedily grant warrants.
The changes also seek to close loopholes that allowed criminal suspects to evade justice on technicalities. Authorities will now be able to hold suspects for 80 days without charges. Previously, defense lawyers could easily delay the charging process, then argue that their clients had been held for too long without charge and must, by law, be released.
