09/15/10 – In August, Guanajuato’s Congress approved sweeping justice sector reforms, becoming the eighth Mexican state to do so, behind Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, Durango, Baja California, and Mexico State. Aside from the movement to an accusatorial justice system based around a professionalized police force, oral trials, and adherence to human rights standards, Guanajuato’s new justice system will also include a provision requiring that indigenous defendants be subjected to trials that adhere to their rites and customs, in the cases of misdemeanor (fuero común) offenses. The final version of the law also authorizes investigators to use wiretaps on suspects with the prior approval of a judge, as well as electronic monitoring devices for some defendants awaiting trial. Pretrial detention is often cited as a leading cause of prison overpopulation.
Guanajuato’s reforms will be applied regionally, beginning in 2011 and reaching completion in 2015 – a year prior to the deadline set by Mexico’s Congress upon passing its constitutional reforms in March 2008. The process will begin September 1 of next year in the northeast region of the state, with its seat in San Miguel de Allende; and will continue January 1, 2013 in the Irapuato region. In January 2014 the reforms are planned to go into effect in the Celaya region, and finally in the León region in January 2015.
Sources:
Machuca, Alfonso. “El Congreso decide hoy sobre la intervención telefónica.” Milenio Aug. 26, 2010.
Valadez, Yara. “Aprueban Ley que legitima juicios orales.” El Sol de León Aug. 27, 2010.
