The intention was to provide the country with the most modern penal code, but legal experts say those who revised the code went to far. They warn that what may result instead is judicial chaos when processing criminal cases in the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo?s Court of Appeals judge, Enrique de Marchena, Human Rights Commissioner Domingo Rojas Nina and lawyers Jottin Cury and Cesar Alcantara told Hoy newspaper that because the new procedures of the penal code are not implementable a judicial limbo will result.
The specialists explained that neither district attorneys nor the police are sufficiently knowledgeable about procedures in the new code. Judge Marchena said that the new system does not solve problems because an evaluation of the district attorneys showed they are not prepared to represent the society after four years on the job, and new ones would be even less so.
They also concur that the appropriate mechanisms to apply the law as it was passed in Congress do not exist. They explained that for the new code to be applied correctly the government would have to double the number of judicial officers presently employed.
Lawyer Jottin Cury said that there are not enough resources to create the infrastructure the law requires and for this reason feels that not only should the implementation of the law be postponed, but that it should be revoked.
The new ruling establishes that persons be indemnified if after they are condemned their sentence is suspended, pardoned or reduced for any reason. The lawyers say the code does not identify, however, where the funds to indemnify these people will come from.
The legal experts agreed that the new code that is scheduled to go into effect as of September protects the delinquents and leaves the victims defenseless. The law is overly concerned with the human rights of the accused, and ignores the rights of the victims.
Cesar Alcantara said that the law contains so many contradictions that the Supreme Court will have to replace Congress. He said the Supreme Court will be forced to make judgments that will eventually create an entirely new code. ?If it goes into effect, we risk confronting chaos in the persecution of criminals,? he said to Hoy newspaper. If the code is met, then most of the criminals now in jail would be freed, according to him.
Apparently, the procedures are more constraining than even those in the United States. Domingo Rojas Nina says that for the police to arrest anyone they must request permission to do so from a judge in a maximum timeframe of 24 hours. The Dominican Constitution allows 48 hours. He concurs with his colleagues that the new code serves to protect criminals, rather than to persecute them.