Students at the Tec de Monterrey University campus in Guadalajara gathered recently to witness a courtroom drama, the like of which could become the norm in Mexico in years to come.
The mock trial was in part sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Justice Department, agencies that are enthusiastically lending their support to the thorny task of revamping Mexico’s archaic judicial system.
Constitutional reforms passed in 2008 included a mandate to implement oral trials across the nation by 2014. Legislators believe that promoting greater transparency will restore public confidence in Mexico’s justice system, which currently sees judges make their rulings behind closed doors from reams of written evidence provided by prosecutors and defense lawyers.
While some states – Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon, to name but two – have moved quickly to bring about this legal transformation, Jalisco is dragging its feet, but not entirely through its own making, according to Luis Carlos Vega Pamanes, president of the state’s Supreme Court.
Pamanes says one billion pesos is required to set up the first 22 courts in Guadalajara that will host trials of “minor” crimes and civil suits. “But without resources, we can do nothing,” he told Spanish-language daily La Jornada recently.
The metropolitan area would require at least another 33 courts to comply with the federal law, he noted. More funding would be required to extend the system to provincial regions such as Puerto Vallarta, Ciudad Guzman and Lagos de Moreno. Pamanes estimates that the first “official” trials won’t begin until 2016.
A major complication will be the lack of trained judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers to participate in the trials. To overcome this, the Jalisco Supreme Court is sponsoring a two-year masters degree in oral trials. Teachers from around the world will be brought in to give classes and many of the students who complete the course are expected to preside over courtroom trials in the future.