Mexico's Unrule of Law

Implementing Human Rights in Police and Judicial Reform under Democratization

By (author) Niels Uildriks With Nelia Tello Peón

Not available to order

Publication date:

02 April 2010

Length of book:

332 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739135105

Mexico's crisis of security is unrelenting. Why is it so hard to establish the rule of law, and why does the country's justice system continue to struggle to deliver both security and adherence to democratic values and human rights? To answer these questions, Mexico Unrule of Law: Implementing Human Rights in Police and Judicial Reform under Democratization looks at recent Mexican criminal justice reforms, placing this Mexico City case study of the social and institutional realities of the evolving police and justice system within the county's long-term transition from authoritarian to democratic governance. In spite of the democratization on the electoral front, profound distrust has continued to characterize not only the relationship between citizens and state institutions but also social, inter-state, and intra-state relations. Against this background, the book analyses extensive and penetrating police surveys and interviews to offer innovative ideas on how to simultaneously achieve greater community security, democratic policing, and adherence to human rights.

1 Preface
2 Introduction
3 Chapter 1: Mexican Policing and Reform: a Theoretical Introduction
4 Chapter 2: A Lynching of Police: A Case Study of Mexican Policing
5 Chapter 3: Mexico's Criminal Justice System: Organized Chaos
6 Chapter 4: Reducing Police Abuse: the Democratization Project
7 Chapter 5: From Inside the Police: A Survey
8 Chapter 6: Police and Politics: A Legacy of Mistrust and the Failure of Reforms So Far
9 Chapter 7: Police and Justice Reforms, Security and Human Rights
10 Appendix A: Methodology
11 Appendix B: Survey
12 Appendix C: Open Interview Protocol

Mexico's Unrule of Law makes an uncommonly serious attempt to grapple with the interaction of policing themes too often normally dealt with in relative isolation. By probing the multilayered, sometimes mutual and often competing obligations between and among police rank and file, their managers and political masters, and the individuals and communities they ostensibly serve, Niels Uildriks seeks to show us not only the form but the fiber of the Gordian knot of police reform. That task is especially daunting in Mexico, where police managers are buffeted by the elevation of politics over policy; police institutions lack the fundamental tools for effective law enforcement; officers are demoralized by their vulnerability to the whims of superiors; while the public suffers from the profound impunity enjoyed by police for serious rights abuse and widespread corruption. With the elements of this complex portrait in hand, readers of Unrule of Law—which will hopefully include more than a few police officials—will be able to reflect in a more concerted fashion about what needs to be done.