Notes on Criminal Process and Constitutional Reform in Mexico Today

The constitutional reform on criminal justice and public security enacted on June 18, 2008 represents the most significant change to the Mexican criminal justice system in over 100 years. By laying the groundwork to replace the current “mixed” procedural code with a more adversarial model, the reform completely alters not only the institutional framework of the Mexican criminal justice system but also its modus operandi. A reform of this magnitude can only be explained by the enormous difficulties currently faced by Mexico’s justice system. In order to better understand the nature of this reform, we shall first consider the problems it intends to address. After defining these in detail, we shall explore how these legislative changes may eventually affect the normal criminal process.