Fact Sheet: Improving Pretrial Justice in Mexico
Over 40 percent of prisoners in Mexico are awaiting trial. In raw numbers this translates into about 95,000 people detained without trial during the course of one year. Over half of these people will be exonerated and released—but after a lengthy period of pretrial detention. This has clear implications, such as severe overcrowding with prisons at 134 percent of official capacity.
In 2007, Mexico initiated an integral reform of its criminal justice system. It became clear that the state lacked the mechanisms to supervise defendants on provisional release and assure that they comply with the pretrial release conditions imposed by the judge.
To address this reality, the state of Morelos formed a strategic alliance with the Open Society Justice Initiative to establish a program to manage supervised pretrial release. The system, outlined in this fact sheet, seeks to balance the presumption of innocence with the state’s duty to maintain public safety as well as the integrity of the criminal justice process.
European Court of Human Rights Finds Russia Responsible for Death of Whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky
The European Court of Human Rights today delivered a comprehensive rebuke to Russia over the 2009 death in pretrial detention of Sergei Magnitsky, the accountant who had previously exposed a $230m tax fraud involving officials of Russia’s powerful Interior Ministry.
Volunteer Lawyers Give New Direction to Nigerian Legal Aid Initiative
In the town of Ikorodu, local lawyers are delivering free legal aid to detainees within 48 hours of arrest and joining an effort to steer people charged with nonviolent crimes away from unnecessary detention.
Nigeria’s Legal Aid Lawyers Win Police Recognition
A legal aid scheme that targets Nigeria’s excessive use of pretrial detention is primed to expand across the country.
