A World Apart Paper

A World Apart
CJS 230
May, 29, 2011

    I will be comparing the correctional facilities in America versus the correctional facilities in Mexico. In this paper I will discuss the different types of systems and correctional facilities, the level of security, the management, and the life of an individual in prison as well. I will write about my views of probation and community corrections and programs, and whether I believe they are effective.
    Mexico’s penal system has two judiciary systems, the Federal and the State, the same as in the United States. The Federal system handles most of the major felonies, including drug trafficking (mongabay, 1996). The Federal system is divided into three sections of judicial courts, and each one handles different types of offenses; Supreme, Circuit, and District. The only person to preside in a criminal case without a jury is the judge. The judge bases their verdict on eye witness accounts and written statements (mongabay, 1996).
    The Supreme Court is compiled of a president and four judges, they deal with penal affairs. There are twelve circuit courts that deal with issues involving the Constitutional rights of an individual; it is very similar to habeas corpus in the United States (mongabay, 1996). In the circuit courts there are also nine courts that deal with appeals only. The district courts have sixty eight magistrates that handle all the issues that may arise within each of the districts. The federal prisons can send prisoners to one of four detention centers, or one of their smaller jails of which there are sixteen of them, there are also prisons for women when needed, there are more than 2,000 municipal jails (mongabay, 1996). The correctional system in Mexico is similar to that of the United States in the way they are divided by Federal and the State, and the districts in each. In the United States the correctional system consists of Federal and State prisons, county jails, and municipal courts (Pelaez,... [continues]

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