In what is probably not news to many families in the Dominican Republic, the statistics show that more than 80% of the criminal cases that enter the judicial system under the penal code are not completed and classified as ?prescription,? a term used to describe the cases that exceed the ?limitation of time beyond which an action, debt or crime is no longer valid or enforceable,? akin to a statute of limitations. According to El Caribe, in 2003 the courts handled 76,421 cases, of which 83.5% resulted without any definitive sentencing. These became prescription cases, or, in Dominican court lingo, ?they died.? In the National District (Santo Domingo and its environs), there have been 62,935 cases filed over the last four and a half years whose courses have exceeded a reasonable length of time ? a total of 81% of all the cases handled by the penal courts. According to El Caribe, there are established limits of one year, three years and ten years, depending on the severity of the crime. In spite of the assistance received from international organizations such as USAID, the incapacity to resolve criminal cases is still prevalent. The victims whose cases thus languish never see their cases resolved. Lawyer Ramon Nunez, a consultant and one of the authors of the new Penal Code, told reporter Peterson Gonzalez that of the remaining 20%, the accused are either convicted or absolved. Nunez serves as a consultant to FINJUS and to the National School of Jurisprudence.