Courtroom telenovela?
A noted and controversial film about justice in Mexico has brought shortcomings of the old judicial system (inquisitorial) into the public eye. A potential presidential candidate proposes videotaping trials to ensure more fairness. And then there's the gradual change underway to more adversarial criminal trials, which began with constitutional amendments passed two years ago.Hit documentary in Mexico spurs promise of more open court trials
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard says he will videotape court trials to prevent the kind of lapses revealed by a hit documentary film on Mexico’s dysfunctional justice system.
Ebrard said videotaping court proceedings would make them more transparent as Mexico City and the rest of the country ease toward a planned system of U.S.-style trials, where cases are argued in open court.
Ebrard, a probable candidate for president in 2012, said it would cost nearly $1 billion to outfit courtrooms with cameras and train judges, prosecutors and other personnel for so-called oral trials…
Flaws in Mexico’s opaque legal system, where cases are decided behind closed doors through time-consuming exchanges of piles of documents, have long been apparent.
Public disgust surged in recent weeks after Presumed Guilty, began showing to packed movie theaters. The documentary tracks the case of a young defendant in Mexico City who is convicted — twice — and sentenced to prison for a fatal shooting he did not commit…
See also:
- PBS web site for Presumed Guilty
- Bungled censorship on the silver screen
- Judical reform in Mexico stumbles
- Training for change
- Change begins in Mexico
- A judicial system FRQ
- Mexican judicial system change
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: judiciary, Mexico, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:32 AM
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