Senators pass a sweeping, tougher criminal code

Santo Domingo.- The amended criminal procedural coderecently passed by the Senate states that police can make an arrest a without acourt order when the person has objects, weapons, instruments, evidence or papersin their power which lead to probablecause that they’re the perpetrator or accomplice of a felony and can hide or fleethe crime scene.

Another change is that a lawyer will be appointed for thevictim and not just the accused. This would be applied if the crime carries a five-yearprison sentence.

The Senators also approved to extend the pre-trialdetention period from 12 to 36 months; establish conciliation on domesticviolence only if doesn’t endanger the victim’s physical or psychologicalintegrity; eliminates the statute of limitations on crimes, and reinstates nightraids on drug trafficking cases.

The legislation nowgoes to the Chamber of Deputies.