Eddy Alcántara proposes procedural law reforms to combat crime

Lawyer and political scientist Eddy Alcántara has proposed reforms to procedural rules and sectoral laws to strengthen the prosecution and punishment of crime and organized crime in the Dominican Republic.

Speaking at the second International Congress of Law in Puerto Plata, Alcántara noted that while a new Penal Code exists to punish previously untypified behaviors, attention must also be paid to the processes preceding final court sanctions. He argued that judicial process regulations should be more rigorous to prevent individuals accused of serious crimes from easily obtaining provisional or definitive freedom.

Alcántara suggested that reviewing procedural norms regarding individual and collective rights is necessary to ensure that surveillance, protection, and prosecution agencies have the guarantees needed to function effectively against organized crime. He expressed concern that the current legal framework may create conditions that incentivize crime by establishing guarantees that he believes equate law-abiding citizens with those who violate the law.