Abstract
In 2008, through a reform of the constitution, Mexico’s criminal justice system underwent a major change when it transitioned from an inquisitorial to an adversarial model. This reform unchained a series of subsequent conceptual and legal changes which include the design and implementation of alternatives to incarceration during trial and after sentencing; the creation of national legal settings (as opposed to federal and state norms), and the incorporation of a new paradigm on rehabilitation that moves from the concept of readaptación—readaptation—to reinserción social—to social rehabilitation. Mexico’s navigation towards a fairer criminal justice system, however, is full of inherent legal and material flaws and inconsistencies. Through a normative analysis that draws on a case study of an indigenous formerly incarcerated woman, sentenced to ten years for drug trafficking, this chapter shows the legal and implementation gaps with regard to mainstreaming gender and interculturality, and how current legal barriers to rehabilitation hinder people’s reinstating to full citizenship.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Animal Político & Intersecta. (2021, October 26). Pretrial detention: The weapon that imprisons the poor and innocent. Political Animal. https://www.animalpolitico.com/prision-preventiva-delitos-encarcela-pobres-inocentes/.
Azzolini, A. (2015). The alternative solutions to the trial: reparative agreements and conditional suspension of the process. In S. García Ramírez & O. Islas de González Mariscal (coords.), The National Code of Criminal Procedures. Studies. National Autonomous University of Mexico, Institute of Legal Research.
Burke, L., Collett, S., & McNeil, F. (2019). Reimagining rehabilitation. Beyond the individual. Routledge.
Cantú, S. (2013). The criminal regime of exception for organized crime under the test of human rights. In E. Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot, J. C. Caballero Ochoa & C. Steiner (coords.), Human Rights in the Constitution: Comments on Constitutional and Inter-American Jurisprudence II (pp. 1737–1765). Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Konrad Adenaur Stiftung.
CEA Social Justice. (2021, September). Community social reintegration in Mexico: Diagnosis, recommendations and routes of action. CEA Social Justice. https://ceajusticiasocial.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CEA_REINSERCION_COMUNITARIA_FINAL_DIGITAL.pdf
Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Huamanos. (2021). National Diagnosis of Penitentiary Supervision 2020. National Commission of Human Rights.
Congreso de la Unión de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. (2014). Código Nacional de Procedimientos Penales, Mexico: Diario Oficial de la Federación.
Congreso de la Unión de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. (2016). Ley Nacional de Ejecución Penal, Mexico: Diario Oficial de la Federación.
Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. (2020). Cuadernillo de Jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos N° 12: Debido Proceso. San José: Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. https://www.corteidh.or.cr/sitios/libros/todos/docs/cuadernillo12.pdf
Equis Justicia para las Mujeres. (2021, July). The social reintegration of women in Mexico. Equis Justice for Women. https://equis.org.mx/historias-de-vida/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Reinsercion_completo.pdf
Foucault, M. (2002). Discipline and punish. Birth of the prison. Siglo XXI Editores.
Giacomello, C. (2015). Women deprived of liberty and the right to vote. From objects of norms to subjects of citizenship. Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation.
Giacomello, C. (2018). Children in prison with their mothers. A comparative legal perspective. Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
Giacomello, C. (2021). Criminal execution from a gender perspective. In E. Vela (coord.), Manual for judging with a gender perspective in criminal matters (pp. 307–380). Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
Giacomello, C., & Youngers, C. (2020). Women incarcerated for drug-related offences: A Latin American perspective. In J. Buxton, G. Margo, & L. Burger (Eds.), The impact of global drug policy on women: Shifting the needle (pp. 103–111). Bingley.
González Domínguez, P. (2021). The new framework of the relationship between International Law and National Law in Mexico. In Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Constitutional Reform in Human Rights: A transformative decade. Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
INEGI. (2021, December). National Survey of the Population Deprived of Liberty. ENPOL 2021. Main Results. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/programas/enpol/2021/doc/enpol2021_presentacion_nacional.pdf
Nataren Nandayapa, C., & Caballero Juárez, J. A. (2013). The constitutional principles of the new Mexican accusatory and oral criminal process. National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Penal Reform International. (2021). Global Prison Trends 2021. London: Penal Reform International, https://knowledge.tijthailand.org/en/publication/detail/global-prison-trends-2021#book/3
Sarre, M., & Manrique, G. (2018). Criminal enforcement justice system. Procedural subjects around prison in Mexico. Tirant Lo Blanch.
Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection. (2021, December). Monthly notebook of national penitentiary statistical information. Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection. https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/702158/CE_2021_12.pdf
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. (2018). Review of direct amparo in revision 5999/2016. First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. 'Obligation to judge with a gender perspective'. Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. https://www.scjn.gob.mx/sites/default/files/resenias_argumentativas/documento/2018-02/res-JMPR-5999-16.pdf
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. (2020). Protocol to judge with a gender perspective. Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
Ureste, M. (2022, February 9). The Court limits pretrial detention: It may be revoked after two years. Animal Politico. https://www.animalpolitico.com/2022/02/corte-prision-preventiva-revocarse/
Walmsley, R. (2017). World Female Imprisonment List (4th edition). World Prison Brief, Institute for Criminal Policy Research. https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/world_female_prison_4th_edn_v4_web.pdf
Zepeda Lecuona, G. (2007). The excessive and irrational use of pretrial detention in Mexico. In S. García Ramírez & O. Islas de González Mariscal (coords.), International panorama on criminal justice. Criminal process and international criminal justice. Comparative cultures and legal systems. Seventh conference on criminal justice. National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Giacomello, C. (2022). The Legal Flaws and Material Implementation Gaps of Mexico’s Rehabilitation Paradigm. In: Vanstone, M., Priestley, P. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Rehabilitation in Criminal Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14375-5_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14375-5_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-14374-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-14375-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)