21/03/2024
During a European Twinning cooperation project to decongest the Dominican judicial system, other important challenges have been identified, such as care for people with serious mental health illnesses
The main objective of this Twinning project has been to measure the progress of the judicial process through the number of cases in which consensus has been reached, in order to streamline the judicial system. To this end, the Dominican-European team has worked closely with the coordinating judge, the public prosecutor’s office and the public defence in the towns of Barahona and San Pedro de Macorís, in the Dominican Republic.
In addition to the situation of criminal congestion, the team has identified a new challenge for the project: to improve the care of people with serious mental health illnesses within the judicial and criminal process. To this end, the Dominican-European team is preparing a diagnostic report that will include possible measures to improve this situation.
Javier Hernández Garcia, magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court in the Dominican Republic, remarked on the benefits of Twinning cooperation projects: “Twinning projects are nourished by synergies that are not known when they are designed, but which appear when they are implemented. The ability to respond to new challenges that arise is one of the great benefits of Twinning. This kind of situation is a sign that Twinning works very well.
In terms of speeding up criminal proceedings, the aim of this cooperation is to draw up a detailed list of active court files, as well as to identify the crimes involved in each case, in order to share this information with the public prosecutor’s office and the defence.
This initiative allows the criminal justice system to respond quickly to criminal behaviour that can be reformed for the reintegration of the offender. This, in turn, helps to decongest the penal system and ensure that minor offences are prosecuted in a short time.
This collaboration between the Dominican team and the European experts represents an important step towards a more efficient and agile judicial system in the Dominican Republic, with a view to improving the administration of justice and ensuring timely access to legal proceedings.
María José Osuna, Chief Prosecutor of Tarragona, who has been on the ground, stressed the importance of cooperation: “On this journey we have learned many things that we can share with the professionals who are part of or collaborate with the Dominican Administration of Justice and help them to chart their own path towards speeding up processes, taking into account the singularity of their institutions and the wealth of resources they have in their Code of Criminal Procedure”.
This project, funded by the European Union, is aligned with the macro objectives of the component, which include the standardisation of strategic processes and the continuous improvement in the development of judicial processes. This initiative is expected to drive structural reform of the Dominican Republic’s justice system.
Ultimately, this project seeks to guarantee the principle of legality, legal certainty and respect for the dignity of citizens, thus contributing to a more efficient and fairer justice system in the Dominican Republic. In this way, it aligns its action with Sustainable Development Goal 16 “Peace, justice and strong institutions”, working to promote just and inclusive societies, facilitating access to justice for all and strengthening accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and SDG 10: “Reducing inequalities”, adopting a cross-cutting approach that seeks to reduce social, economic and political disparities, as well as ensuring the inclusion of all, including persons with disabilities.
