Mexico Eyes Reform of its Antiquated Judicial System

Being arrested while visiting a foreign city is near the top of  most American’s worst travel nightmares.

The U.S. judicial system is far from perfect. It still imposes the death penalty even though over half the countries in the world have abolished it.

But it offers a process in which the accused have basic protections such as a presumption of innocence and publicly conducted proceedings.

A picture of just how alien another country’s judicial process can be was captured in the movie Midnight Express. It tells the true story of a young American who is arrested in Turkey on drug charges in the 1970s

Escalating Charges. Initially, he was charged with possession and drew a sentence of four years. But then the prosecutor appealed the case and the American was sentenced to 30 years.

While the American manages to serve less than the full term, his time in Turkey’s prison is portrayed as being nothing short of hellish.

A more recent reminder of  the disparity in what passes for “justice” among the world’s nations comes from the news of Iran’s release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Siberi.

Arrested for purchasing alcohol, the charges against her escalated to working without a press credential and then spying.

Meeting or Trial? She was found guilty in April after a “trial” that lasted no more than 15 minutes, Siberi’s father told the press. Problem was neither Roxana nor her lawyer knew that she was actually being tried, NPR reported. They both thought they were having an informal meeting with a judge.

But her sentence was reduced and suspended on Sunday after a five-hour closed-door appeal hearing, according to NPR.

Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey, seem somewhat exotic to the average American.

But there are other countries much closer to home such as Mexico that have judicial systems that seem just as foreign.

Navigating Mexico’s Judicial System. While steering clear of drugs greatly reduces the possibility of needing to navigate Mexico’s justice system, an infraction such as driving without car insurance can involve time spent in jail.

Unlike in the U.S., the U.S. Consulate in Tiajuana says the accused in Mexico are:

• presumed guilty until proven innocent,
• given a private trial in which testimony is written rather than live,
• not given the option of a hearing before a jury, and
• tried before a judge who is also responsible for gathering evidence.

At the end of the process awaits stiff sentences and horrible prisons. “In many facilities food is insufficient in both quantity and quality, and prisoners must pay for adequate nutrition from their own funds,” the U.S. State Department advises.

Hopefully, the country’s antiquated system will soon be modernized. Mexico has started an initiative to make its judicial system more open and transparent, the New York Times recently reported.

This means that the accused with be presumed innocent, trials will be open to the public and conducted orally, and victims and the accused may confront one another in public.

The effort is intended to restore public confidence in Mexico’s notoriously opaque judiciall system, which many believe  has long been subject to manipulation by organized crime, according the New York Times.