08/22/13 – The Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego in collaboration with the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars presents the most recent publications in a series of working papers that analyze the range of civic engagement experiences taking place in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law and improve security in the face of organized crime related violence. The newest resources in this series include:
The Victims’ Movement in Mexico
By Lauren Villagran
After a lengthy effort to combat organized crime in Mexico, the mental and emotional damage caused by violence has inflicted a heavy toll on the population. While many organizations help deal with the pain of loss, the need exists for a more dedicated effort to help institutionalize judicial reforms. Increasingly, the leading advocates for the rights of victims in Mexico have come to be the victims themselves. This paper seeks to examine the composition of victims’ groups, their organizational structure, and their internal divisions, and helps shed light on a number of facets of this social movement.
Lauren is a freelance journalist for The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and Americas Quarterly.
Click here to read the paper.
By Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira
Although civil society in Mexico has long been a weak entity, recently there have been encouraging signs of engagement and activism by Mexican citizens in response to their rule of law and security concerns. This report focuses on the role played by civil society in the judicial reform process, highlighting the efforts of organizations that have been influential and emblematic of civic activism in this area.
Octavio Rodriguez is an attorney and also the program coordinator for Justice in Mexico at the University of San Diego. He is the co-editor of the book, La reforma del sistema de justicia penal en Mexico.
Click here to read the paper.
You can also access the previous papers in this series, including those by University of San Diego professor Dr. Emily Edmonds-Poli released in April 2013 focusing on the effects of drug-war related violence on Mexico’s press and democracy; and by InsightCrime analyst Steven Dudley and El Diario de Juárez journalist Sandra Rodríguez Nieto that looks more broadly at the role of civil society, the government, and the development of citizen security.
These working papers are the product of a joint project on civic engagement and public security in Mexico coordinated by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego. As part of the project, a number of research papers have been commissioned that analyze the range of civic engagement experiences taking place in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law and improve security in the face of organized crime related violence. Together the commissioned papers will form the basis of a future edited volume.
