CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE: A CRITICAL DISCUSSION ON THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES IN THE MEXICAN ACCUSATORY CRIMINAL SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54658/ps.28153324.2026.15.1.pp.73-79Keywords:
due process, presumption of innocence, human rights, accusatory criminal justice system, security governance, organized crime, constitutional reform, Political Constitution of the United Mexican StatesAbstract
This paper analyzes the constitutional principles governing criminal procedure in Mexico, understood as human rights and procedural guarantees that ensure respect for the dignity and fundamental rights of defendants, victims, and witnesses. Critically, the article situates these principles within the broader framework of security governance, examining how the 2008 constitutional reform that established the accusatory and oral criminal system was a direct institutional response to the security crisis generated by organized crime, drug cartel violence, and systemic impunity. Using a legal-descriptive methodology, the study reviews normative sources (the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; the National Code of Criminal Procedure), doctrinal analysis, jurisprudential interpretation (Mexican Supreme Court), and comparative scholarship on criminal justice reform and security. The analysis identifies a fundamental tension between the procedural guarantees enshrined in Article 20 of the Constitution — including the presumption of innocence, publicity, adversarial proceedings, and due process — and the state's operational need to effectively prosecute organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorism. The article concludes that the system's effectiveness as a security governance instrument depends on the genuine observance of these principles, institutional adaptation, and the consolidation of a human rights-based judicial culture capable of addressing high-complexity security threats without sacrificing constitutional guarantees.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Martín Beltrán Saucedo, Elena Anatolievna Zhizhko, Stefanía Ávila Villaseñor
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