Following Up on the Judicial Reform

Shannon O'Neil checks up on Mexico's judicial reform four years later:

Now four years on, many are worried about Mexico’s judicial future. Though technically halfway through the transition phase, less than half of Mexico’s states have taken steps to change their justice systems, and the policies put in place vary. Pioneers such as Chihuahua (which implemented its own state level shift in 2007, before the federal reform) have backtracked, reviving many elements of the older inquisitorial-style system, such as permitting hearsay (effectively undermining the rights of the defendant).

The federal government is also still wrangling over its own role, with legislation to guide the states caught up in Congress. During a speech on Tuesday at the forum, President Calderón chastised Mexico’s legislators for dragging their feet. “It doesn’t matter if they are in recess,” he said, “in any moment they could hold an extraordinary session and resolve it [the legislation].”

The implementation of the judicial reform was to last eight years (which was probably too ambitious given the scale of the shift), so we're halfway there. Chronologically, anyway.