Lawyers Reject Mexico's New Criminal Code Out of Self Interest, Say Legal Experts Alfredo Mendez - La Jornada
go to original February 7, 2014

After passage of the National Code of Criminal Procedures, which will apply uniformly to federal and state courts, lawyers skilled in criminal law, agents from the Public Ministry [prosecutors and investigative police], police officers from various forces, and judges consulted by La Jornada maintain that there is still much resistance to accepting the change to the justice system, which includes oral trials.

The greatest reluctance is due to the "ignorance and lack of preparation by thousands of trial lawyers," who have not been trained to cope with the radical changes in criminal procedures, the jurists pointed out.

There is also resistance, especially by local judges and lawyers, because the traditional criminal justice system has permitted some trial lawyers and judges to profit from complicated and opaque criminal proceedings, which "are based on the promotion of writings after writings [documents], which turns into long, cumbersome and expensive [legal proceeding] for defendants."

MV Note: Unlike the common law system (where cases are argued in open court and witnesses testify and are cross-examined), in the civil law tradition on which Mexico's current criminal justice system is based, documents are submitted to the judge, who is responsible for assessing the evidence and making a ruling. It cannot be stated too strongly: the paramount concern is assuring that documents conform to the letter of the law.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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