Justice Access for Victims and the Accused (JAVA)

RE!NSTITUTE has worked closely with JAVA since 2019 to implement 100-Day Challenges across Mexico with the ultimate goal of improving support and services for victims and the accused. We've implemented three types of 100-Day Challenges with JAVA: Institutional (focused on strengthening a single institution and its services), Systemic (interinstitutional and cross-sector in a specific city/state), Multistate (cohort model with one or more institutions from five different states). 

The focus of the 100-Day Challenges has varied depending on the institutions involved and the local context in the state. However, adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for victims (reparación integral del daño) has been the predominant focus area along with the evaluation and supervision processes carried out by PTS Units. The evaluation process aims to assess defendants' eligibility for pretrial release and determine the degree of risk that a defendant poses for the victim, society, and the criminal process. In comparison, the supervision process involves providing follow-up and accountability of conditions for release or pretrial diversion and other precautionary measures imposed on a person by a judge. The technical subject matter of these Challenges has been specialized and inspiring - the majority of 100-Day Challenges have served either victims or those accused of domestic violence. 

Participating institutions have included: Public Defender’s Offices, Pretrial Services Units (PTS Units - Unidades de Medidas Cautelares), Attorneys General Offices, Women's Justice Centers (Centros de Justicia para Mujeres), and State-level Victim Assistance Centers (Comisiones Ejecutivas Estatales de Atención a Víctimas).

Although the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal justice systems and support services for the most vulnerable can be seen in countries across the world, the crisis has also brought about unique opportunities for innovation and a pressing need for systemic resiliency in the face of crises. In Mexico, reports of domestic violence skyrocketed - leaving the institutions tasked with processing these crimes and ensuring victims' safety overloaded and struggling to cope. 

With most of Mexico's courts at very limited capacity or closed for non-urgent cases, the amount of backlogged cases keeps piling up. However, this situation also provided the conditions (a sense of urgency and the need to radically change how the justice system works on practically all levels) necessary to spark innovation in a sector that is traditionally resistant to change. This is why RE!NSTITUTE  - in collaboration with JAVA - decided to launch three completely virtual 100-Day Challenges in three states in Mexico in October 2020. 

The statewide institutional 100-Day Challenge in Sonora consisted of four regional PTS Units which focused on strengthening two key institutional processes: evaluation (increase the number of quality technical opinions (opiniones técnicas) in 100 days) and supervision (improving the supervision process to increase the rate of compliance with conditions for pretrial diversion or conditional release).

Two systemic, interinstitutional 100-Day Challenges were launched in 2020 in San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, both seeking to boost system response to domestic violence while prioritizing victim safety and guaranteeing due process. 

In San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, a dedicated frontline team was centered on improving the issue, execution, and supervision of protective measures (medidas de protección) for victims of domestic violence. Additionally, in San Luis Potosí, a team also worked to up efficiency for protective orders (órdenes de protección).

In Zacatecas, the second team focused on providing holistic support to victims of domestic violence in cases where defendants have been sentenced to pretrial diversion (under conditional release), in addition to increasing the efficiency of the supervision of defendants. San Luis Potosí's second team addressed the challenge of adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for victims (reparación integral del daño) in domestic violence cases. 

RE!NSTITUTE's first-ever multistate 100-Day Challenge in Mexico launched in April of 2021 and brought together five Mexican states to focus on improving the quality of justice services for victims of gender violence. Those states — Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Zacatecas — addressed the complexity of adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for victims (reparación integral del daño) in cases of gender-based violence. The challenge was the same for all five states: 

Strengthen adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for victims and improve victims' experience and services offered while taking into account the conditions and needs of the victim and institutional capacity. 
 
Each state selected their own goal and worked on a state-specific plan to improve two or more of the five categories that comprise comprehensive and effective restitution: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. This allowed systems to move away from the common view that restitution for victims of gender-based violence equates to (solely) economic compensation and move towards thinking holistically about what restitution really means for the life and future of women who have suffered violence and act on it. The Challenge was also an opportunity for the Women's Justice Centers and Victim Assistance Centers to strengthen their reparation models and to start shifting the perception of these two institutions towards being crucial for protecting victims in the criminal justice system.

In Sonora, across the five areas of restitution, the 100-Day Challenge offered 26,608 services to victims:

• Rehabilitation: 10,294 services
• Compensation: 4,710 services
• Guarantees of Non-Repetition: 6,057 services
• Restitution: 1,432 services
• Satisfaction: 4,115

RE!NSTITUTE also facilitated peer-to-peer learning sessions between all five states, which yielded the replication of innovations that led to teams across states offering better quality support and services for victims by creating or modifying processes, tools, and institutional relationships, while also integrating a user perspective to truly reflect the individual needs of the victim.

Even though these 100-Day Challenges took place mid-pandemic, the results have been remarkable, with teams achieving drastic increases in compliance rates, protection measures, and institutions working systematically for the first time to address victims' needs and offer the quality and type of support they deserve. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with JAVA into 2022 to deliver another multistate 100-Day Challenge - stay tuned for updates! 
 

• USAID'S Justice Access for Victims and the Accused (JAVA) Program, implemented by Fortis Consultoría