Robbery without violence will be prosecuted in DR

The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, promulgated Law number 361-22 that will allow from now on robbery without violence and without weapons to be prosecuted ex officio by the Public Ministry, that is, without the need for that there is 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 simply a public action.

The promulgated law modifies article 31 of Law number 76-02, of July 19th, 2002, which creates the Criminal Procedure Code of the Dominican Republic.

This normative provision responds to the statistical data that shows that the reports of robberies without violence and without weapons in public spaces, businesses and homes, are one of the most recurrent and disturbing behaviors of social peace.
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 submission of an instance by the victim.

“The specific 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,” a statement from the Presidency.