Article 22 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

The penalties of death, of mutilation, of infamy, branding, flogging, beating, torture of any kind, excessive fine, confiscation of property and any other unusual and transcendent penalties are prohibited. Every penalty shall be proportional to the crime that it sanctions and to the legally protected interest affected.

The application of the property of a person shall not be considered confiscation when it is decreed for the payment of fines or taxes, nor when the judicial authority decrees it for the payment of civil liability derived from the commission of a crime. Nor shall the forfeiture ordered by the judicial authority of the property in case of illicit enrichment in the terms of Article 109 be considered confiscation, nor the application in favor of the State of secured property that causes abandonment in the terms of the applicable provisions, nor of those properties whose ownership is declared extinguished in a judgment (sentencia).

The action of extinction of ownership shall be exercised by the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Público) through a jurisdictional procedure of a civil nature and autonomous from the criminal one. The competent authorities of the different orders of government shall provide it aid in the fulfillment of this function. The law shall establish the mechanisms so that the authorities administer the property subject to the process of extinction of ownership, including its products, yields, fruits and accessories, so that the authority carries out its disposition, use, usufruct, sale and monetization, attending to the public interest, and defines with criteria of opportunity the destination and, where appropriate, the destruction thereof.

It shall be applicable to property of a patrimonial character whose legitimate origin cannot be accredited and which are related to the investigations derived from acts of corruption, concealment, crimes committed by public officials, organized crime, vehicle theft, resources of illicit origin, crimes against health, kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking and crimes in matters of hydrocarbons, petroleum products and petrochemicals.

Every person who considers himself affected shall be guaranteed access to the adequate means of defense to demonstrate the legitimate origin of the property subject to the procedure.