Abstract

RENGIFO, Andrés F.; AVILA, Lorena  and  AGUILAR, Ana Dulce. Between Authority and Community. Process and Implementation of Pretrial Detention. Rev. Mex. Sociol [online]. 2025, vol.87, n.4, pp.847-877.  Epub Nov 28, 2025. ISSN 2594-0651.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iis.01882503p.2025.4.63064.

This article describes the process of request and imposition of pretrial detention and other temporary measures in a sample of preliminary hearings in three states of Mexico: Mexico City, State of Mexico, and Morelos (N=163). It examines relationships of authority and community that bind together judges and attorneys, and maps how adversarial micro-dynamics vary across jurisdictions, cases, and types of pretrial detention considered (automatic or justified). A model of judicial communities is developed based on these analyses and the more general patterning of courtroom actors and the public observed in the sample. These results are discussed in the context of broader assessments of the judicial reforms of the 2000s.

Keywords : Pretrial detention; sociology of law; criminal justice; courts.

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