Sources have given DR1 a first look at an important survey of pending actions by the Dominican Justice System. It is not at all nice, and it brings into question the ability of the system to administer justice. For example, there are 175 cases dealing with Constitutional issues currently on the Supreme Court books. These include a petition by more than 10,000 citizens against the Protected Areas Law, and an appeal by Deputy Pelegrin Castillo and others against the Convention underwritten by the Ministry of Foreign Relations with several individuals and institutions, which accused the DR before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights regarding the deportation of Haitians. Other cases include Hatuey Decamps’s appeal against the Central Electoral Board decision that endorsed Vicente Sanchez Baret’s presidency of the PRD. Besides these famous cases there are 172 others pending action. The main newspapers together with citizens group Participacion Ciudadana have compiled an imposing list of famous cases that hit the newspapers but then disappeared from view. These cases involve Banco Agricola, the National Lottery, the Immigration Office, the Civil Aviation department, the Customs Office, OMSA and the old Rosario gold mine. The list is very long. The survey also shows that 11,000 crimes went unpunished in 2003 in the National District alone, after spending 10 years in the courts. According to the report by the Judicial Statistics Division, 5,610 cases languished in the seven instruction chambers of the National District. In addition, 391 homicides went unpunished by the courts. Of the 25, 154 sentences handed down by the courts between 2002 and the first trimester of 2004, only 6,111 were condemned or discharged. Of the remaining 19,034 most lacked files, sufficient evidence, were the subject of other mistakes by the prosecutors, or time had run out. This is just a preview of the article. DR1 will continue to publish parts of it in the daily news.