Senate Approves National Femicide Reform: Uniform Standards for Investigation and Punishment Across All States

The Mexican Senate approved a constitutional reform on April 14 establishing uniform national criteria for the investigation, classification, and punishment of femicide — replacing the patchwork of state-level standards that produced wide disparities. Currently, femicide reclassification rates range from 100% in Campeche to just 4.2% in Guanajuato, with critics arguing that lower rates reflect political manipulation of statistics rather than lower violence. The reform requires all 32 states to adopt standardized forensic protocols and minimum sentencing guidelines for feminicidio within 180 days of publication in the Diario Oficial. President Sheinbaum had championed the reform as a core commitment of her Secretariat of Women — the announcement of the reform's passage coincided with Citlalli Hernández's departure from that ministry. Feminist organizations welcomed the national standard but maintained that the 95% impunity rate for gender violence crimes could only be addressed through expanded prosecutorial capacity.