Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico

With the transition to democracy, Latin American countries have embarked on implementing judicial reforms to redesign justice-sector institutions and build up the rule of law in the region. Reform efforts included empowe¬ring the courts, granting political independence to the public prosecutor’s off...

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Author: Aguiar Aguilar, Azul A.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2021
Country:México
Institution:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repository:Mexican Law Review
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/15089
Online Access:https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/15089
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Judicial reform
public defenders
legal representation
accusatory criminal justice procedure
merit-based career system
Reforma judicial
defensores públicos
defensa legal
sistema penal acusatorio
servicio civil de carrera
id MX_10e7d377cfc52ef3efbeeec7d1dedca8
oai_identifier_str oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/15089
network_acronym_str MX
network_name_str México
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of Public Defender Offices in Mexico
title Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
spellingShingle Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
Aguiar Aguilar, Azul A.
Judicial reform
public defenders
legal representation
accusatory criminal justice procedure
merit-based career system
Reforma judicial
defensores públicos
defensa legal
sistema penal acusatorio
servicio civil de carrera
title_short Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
title_full Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
title_fullStr Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
title_full_unstemmed Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
title_sort Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in Mexico
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Aguiar Aguilar, Azul A.
author Aguiar Aguilar, Azul A.
author_facet Aguiar Aguilar, Azul A.
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Judicial reform
public defenders
legal representation
accusatory criminal justice procedure
merit-based career system
Reforma judicial
defensores públicos
defensa legal
sistema penal acusatorio
servicio civil de carrera
topic Judicial reform
public defenders
legal representation
accusatory criminal justice procedure
merit-based career system
Reforma judicial
defensores públicos
defensa legal
sistema penal acusatorio
servicio civil de carrera
description With the transition to democracy, Latin American countries have embarked on implementing judicial reforms to redesign justice-sector institutions and build up the rule of law in the region. Reform efforts included empowe¬ring the courts, granting political independence to the public prosecutor’s office, professionalizing the public defender offices and implementing the accusatory criminal system in justice-sector institutions. To what extent are the reforms tar¬geted at the public defender offices changing the way legal defense is provided? In this article, after discussing a theoretical framework that captures and opera¬tionalizes the concepts of a merit-based career system, an accusatory criminal justice system and effective legal representation, I examine the extent to which the changes of transitioning from an inquisitorial to an adversarial system and from a non-merit-based career system to a merit-based career system have affec¬ted the way legal counsel is provided at subnational public defender offices. To accomplish this, I provide both a de jure and de facto measures (indicators of reform implementation). To identify the de jure indicators, I consulted legal texts (constitutions and secondary laws), and to gauge how the de facto indi¬cators work, I relied on interviews with public defenders, reports and academic documents. I collected 50 interviews with public defense attorneys from three Mexican states: Baja California Sur, Jalisco and Nuevo León. Findings from these states suggest that as reform implementation advances, public defenders have more tools to offer legal representation; more specifically, they are better trained, in addition to having higher salaries, a lower caseload per defender and increased access to forensic services.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021-01-05
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/15089
10.22201/iij.24485306e.2021.2.15089
url https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/15089
identifier_str_mv 10.22201/iij.24485306e.2021.2.15089
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/15089/16396
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Mexican Law Review; Volume XIII, number 2, january-june 2021; 35-62
Mexican Law Review; Volume XIII, number 2, january-june 2021; 35-62
2448-5306
1870-0578
10.22201/iij.24485306e.2021.2
reponame:Mexican Law Review
instname:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
instacron:UNAM
instname_str UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
instacron_str UNAM
institution UNAM
reponame_str Mexican Law Review
collection Mexican Law Review
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Gaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of the Public Defender’s Office in MexicoGaining Access to Justice: A Subnational Study of Public Defender Offices in MexicoAguiar Aguilar, Azul A.Judicial reformpublic defenderslegal representationaccusatory criminal justice proceduremerit-based career systemReforma judicialdefensores públicosdefensa legalsistema penal acusatorioservicio civil de carreraWith the transition to democracy, Latin American countries have embarked on implementing judicial reforms to redesign justice-sector institutions and build up the rule of law in the region. Reform efforts included empowe¬ring the courts, granting political independence to the public prosecutor’s office, professionalizing the public defender offices and implementing the accusatory criminal system in justice-sector institutions. To what extent are the reforms tar¬geted at the public defender offices changing the way legal defense is provided? In this article, after discussing a theoretical framework that captures and opera¬tionalizes the concepts of a merit-based career system, an accusatory criminal justice system and effective legal representation, I examine the extent to which the changes of transitioning from an inquisitorial to an adversarial system and from a non-merit-based career system to a merit-based career system have affec¬ted the way legal counsel is provided at subnational public defender offices. To accomplish this, I provide both a de jure and de facto measures (indicators of reform implementation). To identify the de jure indicators, I consulted legal texts (constitutions and secondary laws), and to gauge how the de facto indi¬cators work, I relied on interviews with public defenders, reports and academic documents. I collected 50 interviews with public defense attorneys from three Mexican states: Baja California Sur, Jalisco and Nuevo León. Findings from these states suggest that as reform implementation advances, public defenders have more tools to offer legal representation; more specifically, they are better trained, in addition to having higher salaries, a lower caseload per defender and increased access to forensic services.Con la transición a la democracia, los países latinoamericanos in¬trodujeron reformas judiciales para rediseñar las instituciones del sector justicia y construir el Estado de derecho en la región. Las reformas incluyeron aspectos como empoderar a las cortes supremas, otorgar independencia política al ministe¬rio público, profesionalizar la defensoría pública o implementar el sistema penal acusatorio en las instituciones del sector justicia. ¿En qué medida las reformas dirigidas a las defensorías públicas están cambiando la provisión de la defensa legal? En este trabajo, después de presentar los debates teóricos para capturar y operacionalizar los conceptos de sistema profesional de carrera, procedimiento penal acusatorio y representación legal efectiva, exploro cómo las reformas ins¬titucionales en materia de procedimiento penal y sistema profesional de carrera modificaron la forma en que los defensores públicos ofrecen defensa legal en el área penal. Para lograr esto, proporciono medidas tanto de jure como de facto (indicadores de implementación de reformas). Para identificar los indicadores de jure, utilizo textos legales (constituciones y leyes secundarias), y para evaluar cómo funcionan estos indicadores de facto, uso 50 entrevistas con defensores pú¬blicos en tres estados mexicanos: Baja California Sur, Jalisco y Nuevo León. Los hallazgos de estos estados sugieren que a medida que avanza la implementación de la reforma, los defensores públicos adquieren más herramientas para ofrecer una representación legal efectiva, en particular, están mejor capacitados, tienen salarios más altos, menos carga de trabajo por defensor y aumentan su acceso a los servicios forenses.Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México2021-01-05info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/1508910.22201/iij.24485306e.2021.2.15089Mexican Law Review; Volume XIII, number 2, january-june 2021; 35-62Mexican Law Review; Volume XIII, number 2, january-june 2021; 35-622448-53061870-057810.22201/iij.24485306e.2021.2reponame:Mexican Law Reviewinstname:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICOinstacron:UNAMenghttps://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/15089/16396Copyright (c) 2020 UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICOinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/150892024-08-16T17:59:00Z
score 15,811543

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