The Case of Gender Violence in Mexico: Does the Judicial System Ensure Substantive Justice for Victims?
El Caso de la Violencia de Género en México: ¿Garantiza el Sistema Judicial la Justicia Sustantiva para las Víctimas?
Keywords:
gender violence, substantive justice, Mexico, women's rights, judicial systemAbstract
This paper analyzes how the Mexican judicial system responds to gender-based violence, assessing its ability to ensure substantive justice for victims. Despite existing legal frameworks, including the General Law on Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence, structural barriers persist, such as impunity, stigma, revictimization, and lack of gender perspective among judicial actors. Drawing on empirical studies, interviews, and analysis of emblematic cases, the article argues that the system often reproduces exclusionary dynamics rather than remedying them. It concludes that effective transformation requires not just legal reform, but deep institutional change and training of judges and prosecutors, so that gender equity becomes a judicial reality, not merely rhetorical commitment.
Este artículo analiza la respuesta del sistema judicial mexicano frente a la violencia de género, evaluando su capacidad de garantizar una justicia sustantiva para las víctimas. A pesar del marco legal existente, incluyendo la Ley General de Acceso de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia, persisten obstáculos estructurales como la impunidad, el estigma, la revictimización y la falta de perspectiva de género en operadores judiciales. Basado en estudios empíricos, entrevistas y análisis de casos emblemáticos, se argumenta que el sistema tiende a reproducir dinámicas de exclusión en lugar de remediarlas. Se concluye que una transformación efectiva requiere no solo cambios normativos, sino una reforma profunda en la cultura institucional y en la formación de jueces y fiscales, para que la equidad de género deje de ser retórica y se convierta en realidad judicial.
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