With the aim of strengthening proportionality and alternativity in criminal justice for adolescents in conflict with the criminal law due to minor drug offences, a national event was held in Santo Domingo to present the main products developed within the framework of the COPOLAD III Programme, funded by the European Union. The activity was jointly led by the Judiciary and the National Public Defence Office of the Dominican Republic, with the active participation of the Attorney General’s Office and the support of the Social Policy Coordination Cabinet.
This action forms part of the work that the COPOLAD III Programme, led by the Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations (FIAP), carries out in Latin America and the Caribbean to support countries in the design and implementation of more effective, inclusive, and rights-based public policies on drugs.
During the event, four key products were presented for the gradual implementation of a national model of juvenile restorative justice: a diagnosis on institutional challenges in the care of adolescents, an operational protocol for system operators, an institutional implementation roadmap, and a proposed curriculum for training judicial operators.
The importance of criminal proportionality
The joint action of COPOLAD III with the Dominican Republic is framed within the programme’s line of work focused on addressing minor drug offences from a perspective of criminal proportionality and non-custodial measures. This line has prioritised the differentiated impacts on women in vulnerable situations and is now expanded to strengthen juvenile criminal justice. The Dominican experience represents a key step by providing concrete operational tools that enable the implementation of restorative approaches adapted to the trajectories of boys, girls, and adolescents involved in these types of offences, often as a result of environments marked by exclusion, poverty, and lack of opportunities.
The technical support of the COPOLAD III Programme has allowed the country to be equipped with practical tools to advance the implementation of a restorative model prioritising harm repair, the recognition of rights, and the prevention of recidivism, especially in contexts of high vulnerability. In this regard, the Dominican Republic is established as a regional benchmark in building more humane, effective, and sustainable juvenile criminal justice responses.
The event counted on the participation of authorities from the European Union Delegation in the Dominican Republic, as well as from the juvenile criminal justice system, representatives of the Executive branch, the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI), the Comprehensive Care System for Adolescents in Conflict with the Criminal Law, and civil society organisations linked to prevention and reintegration processes.
This effort reaffirms the commitment of the European Union and the COPOLAD III Programme with countries in the region in building justice systems that are more proportional, restorative, and aimed at guaranteeing opportunities for young people.
It is worth noting that the Dominican Republic recently assumed the co-presidency of the EU-CELAC Mechanism for Drug Coordination and Cooperation, an institutionalised birregional dialogue forum made up of the 33 CELAC countries and the 27 European Union member states.
