Access to Justice: Dispute Resolution in Criminal Courts

Mexico has a high level of homicides but also of assault and robberies. Mexicans now consider insecurity the top priority of the country. The problem is so bad that some consider Mexico a “Fragile State”. A myriad of factors interacted to create this situation. But one of them is surely the ineffectiveness of the penal justice system. 92% of people do not report crimes committed against them (see ENVIPE, INEGI). Only about 1% of reported crimes end in a sentence by a judge. Victims and defendants have limited access to good lawyers, and the public defenders ---who are free-- are overwhelmed with cases. 

Access to justice is not only inadequate but also unequal. There is anecdotal evidence that the justice system is unfair and rigged against the poor, and that jails contain a significant proportion of poor people who did not have quality legal representation. Likewise, victims with bad lawyers don’t get far. This is in itself dramatic and of independent interest, but it may also cause more violence if justice provided through courts is a substitute for citizens taking justice into their own hands, or if legitimacy of the court system is a determinant of compliance with the law.