NewsWhore
06-18-2010, 05:00 PM
Arriving at 9am, with only the protection of the laws and codes while entering the courtrooms, is just one of the security challenges a judge faces each day. Driving their own cars, and some, in the recent past, have even been seen walking to the closest public car route to use public transport only completes the chess game.
What measures exist to protect judges in a society where crime is becoming more unpredictable by the day? The question is being posed is several quarters following a series of articles on security in the nation's courts published by Diario Libre.
Besides the fact that most judges do not have bodyguards, it is said that the lack of a protection plan for judges faced with any sort of contingency has not been taken into account.
Also unknown are the mechanisms and resources that the authorities have at their disposal to tackle any problem that a judge might face when it comes to personal safety. Although many judges have bodyguards, others leave the court unaccompanied.
There are even cases where, despite having decreed a 30-year jail sentence to the accused, judges and prosecutors have been seen walking alone to a parking lot to get into their vehicles at night.
The frequency with which these cases are seen in the National District and the province of Santo Domingo has become routine. In many of the smaller towns the security of judges and prosecutors is glaringly absent.
"Well, I am here as you see me, alone", said one magistrate who asked the newspaper to withold his identity. Likewise, an assistant prosecutor described how he left in darkness with only divine protection, after pronouncing a sentence in a controversial case.
Judges and prosecutors have been the targets of robberies in their homes and cars. One judge was robbed recently as she arrived at her apartment in Gazcue. Another had a person arraigned on charges of robbery after he was caught stealing accessories from the judge's car.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
What measures exist to protect judges in a society where crime is becoming more unpredictable by the day? The question is being posed is several quarters following a series of articles on security in the nation's courts published by Diario Libre.
Besides the fact that most judges do not have bodyguards, it is said that the lack of a protection plan for judges faced with any sort of contingency has not been taken into account.
Also unknown are the mechanisms and resources that the authorities have at their disposal to tackle any problem that a judge might face when it comes to personal safety. Although many judges have bodyguards, others leave the court unaccompanied.
There are even cases where, despite having decreed a 30-year jail sentence to the accused, judges and prosecutors have been seen walking alone to a parking lot to get into their vehicles at night.
The frequency with which these cases are seen in the National District and the province of Santo Domingo has become routine. In many of the smaller towns the security of judges and prosecutors is glaringly absent.
"Well, I am here as you see me, alone", said one magistrate who asked the newspaper to withold his identity. Likewise, an assistant prosecutor described how he left in darkness with only divine protection, after pronouncing a sentence in a controversial case.
Judges and prosecutors have been the targets of robberies in their homes and cars. One judge was robbed recently as she arrived at her apartment in Gazcue. Another had a person arraigned on charges of robbery after he was caught stealing accessories from the judge's car.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)