Santo Domingo. – The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, promulgated this November 18 Law no. 361-22 that will allow from now on, robbery without violence and weapons can and should be prosecuted ex officio by the Public Ministry, that is, without the need for a complaint or complaint by the victim.
With this modification, the indicated crime ceases to be a punishable act of public action at a private instance and becomes a general action.
The promulgated Law modifies article 31 of Law no. 76-02 of July 19, 2002, which creates the Criminal Procedure Code of the Dominican Republic.
This normative provision responds to statistical data that shows that reports of robberies without violence and weapons in public spaces, businesses, and homes are one of the social peace’s most recurrent and disturbing behaviors.
However, the modified article 31 of the Criminal Procedure Code had been causing several of these punishable acts to go unpunished because they could only be prosecuted by the Public Ministry as long as there was the submission of an instance by the victim.
The conversion of robbery without violence and weapons into a prosecutable crime on the initiative of the Public Ministry comes to strengthen the commitment of the Government of President Abinader in the implementation of a state policy against corruption focused on prevention and equipping the body of the justice system not only genuine autonomy and independence but also practical legal tools that, within the framework of respect for human rights and due process, allow it to effectively fulfill its constitutional role of formulating and implementing State policy against crime, as well as directing the criminal investigation and exercising public action on behalf of society.
The punctual modification, which will enter into force as of its publication in the Official Gazette, comes to strengthen the plans and policies of the current Administration in favor of crime prevention and the fight against impunity.
