Silvia is going through a very difficult time. Three of her children are living behind bars. Her two eldest sons are in an adult’s prison in the state of Chihuahua, and her youngest boy, Miguel, is in a juvenile detention facility in that same state. Silvia lives very far from both prisons, in a neighboring […]
“Information can save lives,” was the phrase used by. the founding member and director of Documenta A.C., María Sirvent, regarding transparency by the authorities in charge of the adolescent justice system in Mexico, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. During our webinar titled : “COVID-19: Identifying the strengths of the adolescent justice system”, Sirvent […]
*Specific communication for Mexico was released and is available in Spanish, click here for more info. Juvenile Justice Advocates International’s (JJAI) vision is that children are only detained as a last resort and for the shortest period of time possible. JJAI works towards this by collaborating and providing technical assistance to youth justice operators to […]
(Video only available in Spanish) Last September 28th, Congressperson Victor Manuel Sanchez Orozco, of the Movimiento Ciudadano party, presented a legal reform to the National Juvenile Justice System Law in Mexico´s National Congress. Juvenile Justice Advocates has been working with Congressperson Clemente Castañeda Hoeflich and Congressperson Sanchez, this year to improve the juvenile justice system. […]
[:en]The teacher was preparing her lesson when we entered the empty classroom at 9:15 A.M. She had written a few math problems written on the chalkboard. We had brought a group of experts from the United States and we were on an official tour of the juvenile detention center in Chihuahua, Mexico. We started at […]
We drove from Ciudad Juarez on the border with the United States, to the city of Chihuahua, the capital city of the state, in order to continue our Vision Trip. We meet with court officials, non-profits working with teens, and visited the detention center there. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Vision Trip – Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico.
This past week Tamara Thompson and Blake Murdock joined us for our first-ever Vision Trip. Vision Trips give people a first-hand look at our work with juveniles in Mexico’s prison system. We visited the juvenile prisons in Juarez and Chihuahua cities and met with court officials to discuss our proposed projects in Chihuahua. Blake and Tammi will be sharing their experiences with us soon!
Above is a view of Juarez and Chihuahua, our meetings with the judges, and Blake, Doug and Tammi on the road from Juarez to Chihuahua.
The U.S. funds more police, court, prosecutor and prison development projects around the world than any other funder.
The US is not a party to key human rights treaties governing criminal justice, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights despite the fact that nearly every country where the U.S. promotes its practices are parties to these international instruments.
Después de años de lucha y problemas de inseguridad, decidimos en 2022 cerrar nuestro proyecto en Guerrero. Pudimos implementar nuestro instrumento de evaluación previa al juicio para garantizar que los jóvenes de bajo riesgo permanezcan en sus comunidades. Y brindamos apoyo a más de 220 jóvenes, como parte de nuestro proyecto de Movilizando Voluntarios.
Por invitación del Poder Judicial del Estado de Chiapas, realizamos un estudio para evaluar la viabilidad de implementar nuestros proyectos en la región. En 2022, nuestro equipo presentó los resultados y recomendaciones. El gobierno estatal ahora está decidiendo cómo quieren colaborar con nosotros en el futuro.
After years of struggle and security issues, we decided in 2022 to close our project in Guerrero. We were able to implement our pretrial screening instrument to ensure low-risk youth stay in their communities. And we provided support to over 220 youths, as part of our Mobilize and Empower project.
In the state of Chiapas, at the invitation of the state judiciary, we conducted a study to assess the viability of implementing our projects. In 2022, our team presented the results and recommendations. The state government is now deciding how they want to collaborate with us in the future.
Vista como líder nacional en las prácticas del sistema de justicia, la Ciudad de México tiene más adolescentes en detención que cualquier otra jurisdicción. Sin embargo, también ha desarrollado una unidad de seguimiento en libertad con numerosas alianzas con organizaciones. Nuestros proyectos fortalecerán esta área crítica.
JJI está trabajando en la Ciudad de México desde dos vertientes. En Alternativas a la Detención con un monitoreo que comenzó en 2019, pero por causas sanitarias y la pandemia por COVID, se retomó dos años después con un equipo de especialistas el cual ya está preparándose para continuar la actividad. En Movilizando voluntarios, se continúa con los esfuerzos para reunir a más adolescentes con sus familias, gracias al apoyo: “Reunificación familiar”. Así como también se han realizado entrega de enseres en los 6 centros.
A pesar de tener un número menor de adolescentes en el sistema de justicia, Durango es una jurisdicción que busca la mejora continua. Durango es el primer estado donde tanto el poder judicial como el ejecutivo han firmado convenios de colaboración para la implementación de nuestros proyectos de Alternativas a la Detención.
Chihuahua es nuestro sitio piloto y un estado considerado líder en la reforma penal en México. Nuestros proyectos comenzaron en el 2016. Desde entonces, los tiempos en detención preventiva han disminuido, los adolescentes son supervisados con mayor eficiencia en sus comunidades y se ha mejorado la calidad de vida de aquellos adolescentes que siguen privados de su libertad.
En Chihuahua trabajamos con varios proyectos, como son el monitoreo que se trabaja en conjunto con la autoridad, y con los adolescentes y sus familias trabajamos en talleres, mesas de trabajo, eventos lúdicos, acompañamiento post penal, reubicaciones y traslados de familiares para audiencias y visitas, así como donaciones de enseres, ropa y material deportivo.
A national leader in criminal procedural reforms, our pilot project in Chihuahua started in 2016. Since that time the rates and duration of pretrial detention have declined, youth are being successfully supervised in their communities and new programs in the detention center have improved daily life for those children still deprived of liberty.
Looked to as the national leader in youth justice practices, Mexico City has more youth in detention than any other jurisdiction but has also developed a robust probation office and numerous alliances with nonprofits. Our projects will further fortify this critical work.
Despite being a smaller jurisdiction, Durango is constantly looking to improve. Durango is the first state where both the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch have signed Memorandum of Understanding to launch the Alternatives to Detention initiatives.
