Do you know what to do if the Public Prosecutor's Office does not follow up on your complaint?

A particularity existing in the Mexican criminal justice system is the lack of attention paid by the State Prosecutor's Offices to the complaints filed, either due to a backlog of work, or due to mere corruption, a situation that results in impunity for the crimes committed and therefore an absence of justice.

In view of this, the National Code of Penal Procedure has established that if the Public Prosecutor's Office does not carry out the investigation acts you requested, you can go before a Control Judge to request a hearing in which the Prosecutor's Office must explain to the judge the reasons why it has not carried out its work, after hearing the previously mentioned, the Jurisdictional Authority will impose a term to carry out what is demanded and in case of not doing so, a penalty will be applied. We share this legal provision with you:

, the temporary filing, the application of a deferred judgment and the non-exercise of the penal action must be notified to the victim or offended party who will be able to impugn it before the Control Judge within ten days after they are notified of such resolution. In these cases, the Control Judge will summon a hearing to make the final decision, summoning the victim or offended party, the Public Prosecutor's Office and, if applicable, the accused and his defense counsel. In the case that the victim, the offended party or their legal representatives do not appear at the hearing in spite of having been duly summoned, the Control Judge will declare the challenge to be without subject matter.

The resolution dictated by the Control Judge in these cases will not admit any appeal whatsoever."«

As can be observed, this hearing may also be requested in the case that the investigation file is temporarily archived, a deferred judgment is applied or if it is determined that the criminal action will not be prosecuted.

It is very important that this hearing be requested within ten days of notification of the resolution in question.

Finally, it is important to remember that the resolution issued in such hearing cannot be appealed.

This is why it is important to have lawyers specialized in the matter who can protect your rights before any possible eventuality. Our team has specialists in Criminal Law with more than 10 years of experience.

Get in touch with us!

Lic. Héctor Rodríguez

arodriguez@g-r.mx