At least 40,000 people have died in the Mexican government's war on drugs over the past five years.

Victims of violence have often had little faith in the country's justice system, in large part because of corruption in the courts.

In 2008, the government approved radical changes to the system and now defendants are going before judges under a new system of oral trials that will see a complete rollout by 2016.

Al Jazeera's Franc Contreras reports from Mexicali.