Security and Rule of Law

Since 2005, TBI's Justice in Mexico Project has worked to promote security, judicial reform, and the rule of law in Mexico and the border region through sustained monitoring and research, consensus building on critical policy issues, and professional training. The project is highly collaborative, coordinating its research agenda and activities with prestigious scholars, government officials and non-governmental organizations from both Mexico and the United States. The project has been effective in analyzing and promoting dialogue about public security and judicial reform efforts at the national and state level. TBI’s efforts helped build support for sweeping changes approved in 2008 by the Mexican Congress, including the introduction of oral trials, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and new police reforms. The project also organized a series of seminars on “Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Comparative Perspective,” which serve to educate law students and professionals in Mexico about this topic. Currently, the project centers on monitoring and data collecting on rule of law issues, analysis of justice sector reform implementation and performance, (including surveys of police, prosecutors, public defenders, and judges), briefings for policy makers, and trainings for judicial system professionals in Mexico.

This project receives generous support from The MacArthur Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Tinker Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.