In October 1995, communities of the Costa-Montaña region of Guerrero founded a community police force in Santa Cruz El Rincón, in the municipality of Malinaltepec. At first they handed detainees to the public prosecutors. When that did not work, the communities created their own system of justice, led by the Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias (CRAC).
A UNAM document on the system describes those found at fault: they “cumplen su condena mediante trabajo en favor de las comunidades” (serve their sentence through work for the communities). “En el proceso son reeducados por los ancianos y principales de los pueblos” (In the process they are reeducated by the elders and leading men of the villages).
In 2013, according to La Jornada, a decree of the state government prohibited the community authorities from applying reeducation or sanctions.