Civil liability arising from crime in Mexico: implications, advantages, drawbacks, shortcomings, and comparative law

Abstract

Civil liability arising from crime constitutes one of the key pillars for advancing toward a more restorative and humane justice system. This legal figure is situated in a zone of convergence—something akin to a “Venn diagram”—between criminal law and civil law, as it embodies an interdisciplinary vision of law and, at the same time, a space of conceptual and practical ambiguity within the contemporary Mexican legal context. Historically, Mexico has shown limited institutional and doctrinal sensitivity toward the concept of full reparation of harm, in contrast to what more legally developed societies have established as standards of restorative justice and compensation.