The changes to the criminal justice system aim to address these issues and make several important changes. These reforms include making trials – which were typically documented only in writing – oral, making it easier for people to track court cases and leading to a rise in public monitoring of court proceedings.

The changes also mandated that three independent judges serve on all trials, to avoid the risk of a single judge aligned with drug cartels presiding over a decision.

The changes were fully implemented across all 31 states of Mexico in 2016. But these reforms have not reduced violence in Mexico. They only scratch the surface and do not address the structural issues – like misogyny and racism – at the root of violence against particularly vulnerable people, like women and Indigenous people.

Most Mexican people also do not trust their police or criminal justice system.

University of California’s San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies estimates that 93.3% of crimes are not reported. Out of the small number of reported cases, arrests are made in only 11.5%.

Women, notoriously, are not acknowledged when they report that they are victims of crime, or they are reported missing by loved ones. And violent crimes against women are solved at even lower rates than other crimes.

In my opinion, criminal justice reforms alone cannot reduce crime in Mexico.

The percentage of Mexican people living in poverty continued to grow from 2018 and 2020, increasing by 7.3% during these years.

Inequality between Mexico’s richest and poorest people also remains on the rise, making it one of the most unequal countries in the world. Some research shows that strengthening educational systems in Mexico – and reducing inequality – could help curb crime.

These factors – in addition to illicit drug usage in the U.S. and demand for drugs transported through Mexico – all form a complicated web that will need to be untangled, and systematically addressed, before criminal justice reforms alone can help make Mexico a safer and more just country.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

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Rebecca Janzen received funding from the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences to conduct research for this work.