Improving the Dominican Republic’s Justice System .

An effective criminal justice system indiscriminately provides citizens with access to justice, promotes equality and demonstrates impartiality, maintains timely and efficient processes, combats the impunity of human rights violators, fosters citizens’ independence and responsibility, and earns the public’s trust. In the Dominican Republic, 20 years of justice reform and modernization efforts have led to some progress, but the country’s justice system still requires improvement. The USAID Dominican Republic Criminal Justice System Strengthened Project (DR CJSSP) promoted inter-institutional coordination across the country’s justice sector to create more effective criminal case management models and processes. Through community justice houses and conciliation and mediation services, the project also worked to expand access to justice and legal protection. These services reduced prosecutor and court caseloads in the criminal justice system, enabling prosecutors to dedicate greater time and resources to investigating and prosecuting more serious crimes. In addition, DR CJSSP enabled the criminal justice system to establish linkages to broader initiatives that promote citizen security as well as violence and crime prevention.