The study analyses the implementation of the right of access to a lawyer in the first hours of detention in Mexico, identifying the main obstacles and gray areas as well as ways forward that may contribute to reduce the gap between law and reality.
The study was carried out as part of a project that seeks to contribute to closing the gap that exists between law and practice in Mexico and to guarantee that all persons deprived of liberty have access to a lawyer in the first hours of detention. The document focuses on the first hours of custody and, in particular, on arrests in flagrante delicto, that is, from the moment the police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office detain a person until he or she is brought before the judge. In particular, the study focused on the implementation of the right of access to a lawyer in Mexico City and in the states of Nuevo León and Oaxaca.
