IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v163y2023ics0305750x22003382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reforming justice under a security crisis: The case of the criminal justice reform in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Cepeda-Francese, Camilo A.
  • Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora A.

Abstract

This paper assesses how the adoption of a common-law style model affects crime rates, pretrial detention, and judicial efficiency measures. We do this in the context of Mexico, where a judicial reform was fully implemented by 2016, both on the state and federal levels. Using a generalized synthetic control group approach (Xu, 2017) and municipality-level administrative data for the years 1997–2012, we find that the reform increased the homicide rate and was accompanied by a reduction in the use of pretrial detention for property crimes in the early implementer municipalities. The increase in the homicide rate was, nonetheless, much greater in the municipalities with established organized crime presence, where we also observed a greater reduction in the capacity to effectively prosecute homicides. Our results describe the difficulties in implementing this kind of reform in developing countries experiencing security crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Cepeda-Francese, Camilo A. & Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora A., 2023. "Reforming justice under a security crisis: The case of the criminal justice reform in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x22003382
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106148
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X22003382
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106148?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Enamorado, Ted & López-Calva, Luis F. & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Winkler, Hernán, 2016. "Income inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico's drug war," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 128-143.
    2. David S. Lee & Justin McCrary, 2017. "The Deterrence Effect of Prison: Dynamic Theory and Evidence," Advances in Econometrics, in: Regression Discontinuity Designs, volume 38, pages 73-146, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Juan Camilo Castillo & Daniel Mejía & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Scarcity without Leviathan: The Violent Effects of Cocaine Supply Shortages in the Mexican Drug War," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 269-286, May.
    4. Angela Zorro Medina & Camilo Acosta & Daniel Mejía, 2020. "The Unintended Consequences of the U.S. Adversarial Model in Latin American Crime," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 18406, Universidad EAFIT.
    5. Melissa Dell, 2015. "Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(6), pages 1738-1779, June.
    6. Trejo, Guillermo & Ley, Sandra, 2021. "High-Profile Criminal Violence: Why Drug Cartels Murder Government Officials and Party Candidates in Mexico," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 203-229, January.
    7. Maamoun, Nada, 2019. "The Kyoto protocol: Empirical evidence of a hidden success," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 227-256.
    8. Valeria Espinosa & Donald B. Rubin, 2015. "Did the Military Interventions in the Mexican Drug War Increase Violence?," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(1), pages 17-27, February.
    9. Ben Vollaard, 2013. "Preventing crime through selective incapacitation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(567), pages 262-284, March.
    10. Xu, Yiqing, 2017. "Generalized Synthetic Control Method: Causal Inference with Interactive Fixed Effects Models," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 57-76, January.
    11. Jushan Bai, 2009. "Panel Data Models With Interactive Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1229-1279, July.
    12. Erin Hartman & F. Daniel Hidalgo, 2018. "An Equivalence Approach to Balance and Placebo Tests," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(4), pages 1000-1013, October.
    13. Daniel S. Nagin, 2013. "Deterrence: A Review of the Evidence by a Criminologist for Economists," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 83-105, May.
    14. Hernández, Wilson, 2019. "Do criminal justice reforms reduce crime and perceived risk of crime? A quasi-experimental approach in Peru," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 89-100.
    15. Castillo, Juan Camilo & Kronick, Dorothy, 2020. "The Logic of Violence in Drug War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(3), pages 874-887, August.
    16. Davis, Michael L, 1988. "Time and Punishment: An Intertemporal Model of Crime," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(2), pages 383-390, April.
    17. Castañeda Dower, Paul & Pfutze, Tobias, 2020. "Land titles and violent conflict in rural Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    18. Aaron Chalfin & Justin McCrary, 2017. "Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 5-48, March.
    19. Atkins, Raymond A & Rubin, Paul H, 2003. "Effects of Criminal Procedure on Crime Rates: Mapping Out the Consequences of the Exclusionary Rule," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 157-179, April.
    20. Aleksey Oshchepkov & Anna Shirokanova, 2020. "Multilevel Modeling For Economists: Why, When And How," HSE Working papers WP BRP 233/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:ags:aaea22:335710 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sandra V. Rozo & Therese Anders & Steven Raphael, 2021. "Deportation, crime, and victimization," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 141-166, January.
    2. Roxana Guti'errez-Romero & Nayely Iturbe, 2024. "Causes and Electoral Consequences of Political Assassinations: The Role of Organized Crime in Mexico," Papers 2407.06733, arXiv.org.
    3. Trang My Tran, 2022. "International Environmental Agreement and Trade in Environmental Goods: The Case of Kyoto Protocol," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(2), pages 341-379, October.
    4. Acosta, Camilo & Mejía, Daniel & Zorro Medina, Angela, 2023. "On the Tension Between Due Process Protection and Public Safety: The Case of an Extensive Procedural Reform in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20924, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    5. Giacomo Battiston & Gianmarco Daniele & Marco Le Moglie & Paolo Pinotti, 2022. "Fueling Organized Crime: The Mexican War on Drugs and Oil Thefts," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0286, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    6. Daniel L. Chen & Lubomir Cingl & Arnaud Philippe & Michal Soltes, 2024. "Exploring Inmates’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behavior: Implications for Theories of Crime," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp779, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    7. Libor Dušek & Christian Traxler, 2024. "Swiftness and Delay of Punishment," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0032, Berlin School of Economics.
    8. Vollaard, Ben, 2017. "Temporal displacement of environmental crime: Evidence from marine oil pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 168-180.
    9. Lepage, Louis-Pierre, 2020. "Are criminals strategic? Offender responses to drug sentencing cutoffs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Angela Zorro Medina & Camilo Acosta & Daniel Mejía, 2020. "The Unintended Consequences of the U.S. Adversarial Model in Latin American Crime," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 18406, Universidad EAFIT.
    11. Dur, Robert & Vollaard, Ben, 2019. "Salience of law enforcement: A field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 208-220.
    12. Anna Piil Damm & Britt Østergaard Larsen & Helena Skyt Nielsen & Marianne Simonsen, 2017. "Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility: Consequences for juvenile crime and education," Economics Working Papers 2017-10, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    13. Blattman, Christopher & Lessing, Benjamin & Tobon, Santiago & Duncan, Gustavo, 2021. "Gang rule: Understanding and Countering Criminal Governance," SocArXiv 5nyqs, Center for Open Science.
    14. Maria Micaela Sviatschi, 2022. "Making a NARCO: Childhood Exposure to Illegal Labor Markets and Criminal Life Paths," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1835-1878, July.
    15. Basiglio, Stefania & Foresta, Alessandra & Turati, Gilberto, 2024. "Impatience and crime. Evidence from the NLSY97," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    16. Rozo, Sandra V. & Anders, Therese & Raphael, Steven, 2020. "Deportation, Crime, and Victimization," GLO Discussion Paper Series 545, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Herrera, Joel Salvador & Martinez-Alvarez, Cesar B., 2022. "Diversifying violence: Mining, export-agriculture, and criminal governance in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    18. Hale Utar, 2018. "Firms and Labor in Times of Violence: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War," CESifo Working Paper Series 7345, CESifo.
    19. Yang Zhou & Shigeto Kitano, 2024. "Effects of Capital Flow Management Measures on Wealth Inequality: New Evidence from Counterfactual Estimators," Discussion Paper Series DP2024-30, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    20. Tran, Trang, 2020. "International Environmental Agreement and Trade in Environmental Goods: The Case of Kyoto Protocol," Conference papers 333198, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x22003382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.