Strategic Alignment to Improve Access to Justice in Mexico

In its Rule of Law Index in Mexico for 2022, the World Justice Project highlights the importance of improving the efficiency of case resolution by reducing delays in the judicial process. Limiting the postponement of hearings is a critical part of improving the timeliness of case resolution and helps to prevent human rights violations for both victims and defendants who are awaiting trial. This was priority for multiple areas of the State Court in the judicial district of Torreón in the state of Coahuila who identified the need to strategically align their efforts to address hearing postponement head-on, a process that was deeply rooted in CLA practices.

Torreón's strategic alignment involved the internal and external collaboration of leadership and operational staff, and was driven by evidence-based decision-making to adaptively respond to the complex issue of hearing postponement, in part through the adoption of a digital tool to make decisions in real-time. The openness of diverse actors involved was key to engage in dialogue to establish a common agenda that prioritized the users' experience by identifying and attending to root causes that contribute to postponement in a coordinated fashion.

Members of the State Court have already seen impressive results upon using CLA practices, reducing postponement by 35% in a two-month reporting period. The State Court has already begun to share the methodology with neighboring districts, amassing data at the state-level, and has established ways to create solutions in the long-term through an inter-institutional mechanism and Judges Committees, among other strategies.