From one extreme to the other

[NewsWhore]

Writing in today's Listin Diario, deputy Vinicio A. Castillo Seman says that citizens should become aware of the urgent need to reform the Penal Procedures Code. He points to three recent cases that highlight the need for this reform. He criticizes the fact that the code, which has been in effect for four years now, sought to improve on the previous code that was authoritative and based on the "lock him in," but explains that now what prevails is a focus on "let him out," which has brought increased impunity and he says is behind the increase in crime. The cases he highlights are those of the murder of Police Major Paula Mercedes by a gang that had been released because of the loopholes in the code, that of the gang that robbed the Attallah exchange house, also released, and that of the owner of a shipment of liquid cocaine disguised as shampoo, who was also released. Castillo criticizes that the new penal code was imposed on the country by the USAID, and the new difficulties in processing suspect criminals have now made society a victim. "If Dominican society does not protest and push for changes to the penal code in those aspects it has served as an escape and passport for dangerous criminals in the past four years, crime will have to be contained by police violence, which has proven not to be a solution. "How many more deaths will have to fall to repeat criminals? How many armed robberies will there have to be? How many container ships will have to be confiscated, so that the actors in the judicial system and those with the political power to change the penal procedures code take on their responsibility to defend society before crime?" he asks.

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