{"id":519301,"date":"2026-08-03T08:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/the-new-penal-code-comes-into-effect-today-with-changes-regarding-freedom-of-expression-fraud-and-corruption\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T08:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:16:22","slug":"the-new-penal-code-comes-into-effect-today-with-changes-regarding-freedom-of-expression-fraud-and-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/the-new-penal-code-comes-into-effect-today-with-changes-regarding-freedom-of-expression-fraud-and-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"The new Penal Code comes into effect today with changes regarding freedom of expression, fraud, and corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Santo Domingo.<\/strong>&#8211; As of today, the new <strong>Penal Code of the Dominican Republic<\/strong> enters into force, following the expiration of the legal deadlines established after its promulgation and publication in the Official Gazette. The new legislation introduces significant modifications to the penal regime, incorporating new crimes, adjusting sanctions, and establishing changes in areas such as freedom of expression, privacy protection, administrative corruption, and the criminal liability of legal entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the most relevant new developments is the classification of <strong>aggravated fraud<\/strong>, punishable by five to ten years in prison. The provision specifically includes the sale or promise of real estate off-plan after having received partial or total payments from buyers, a practice that had generated numerous complaints in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regarding privacy, Article 192 establishes that the dissemination of audio or images without the consent of the affected person shall be punished with up to one year in prison when it occurs in a private setting or there is a reasonable expectation of confidentiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new Code also modifies the penalties for some crimes. <strong>Perjury<\/strong> goes from a sentence of five to ten years in prison to a range of two to five years, while <strong>defamation<\/strong> reduces its sanction from two to five years to between one and two years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Likewise, Article 211 incorporates an exception for defamation and libel offenses by establishing that criticism related to cases of corruption, public policy, or public services shall not be considered punishable, provided that it is supported by evidentiary elements or a reasonable verification of the information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to these modifications, the legislation strengthens provisions regarding crimes against minors, expands the scope of criminal liability for legal entities, and introduces new tools to combat administrative corruption and other criminal conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Commission to evaluate future reforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the new Penal Code comes into effect this Monday, the Government announced that it will continue to evaluate possible adjustments to the regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To that end, President Luis Abinader formed a commission composed of renowned jurists and representatives of civil society, headed by the former president of the Constitutional Court, Milton Ray Guevara. It is also composed of Leyda Margarita Pi\u00f1a Medrano, Pedro Balbuena, Ricardo Rojas Le\u00f3n, Julio C\u00e9sar Casta\u00f1os Guzm\u00e1n, Luz D\u00edaz, Jos\u00e9 Lorenzo Ferm\u00edn, Eduardo Jorge Prats, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra, and journalists Persio Maldonado and An\u00edbal de Castro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commission will have the mission of analyzing the practical application of the new Penal Code and proposing potential reforms that allow for strengthening the legal framework and responding to the challenges that may arise during its implementation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santo Domingo.&#8211; As of today, the new Penal Code of the Dominican Republic enters into force, following the expiration of the legal deadlines established after its promulgation and publication in the Official Gazette. The new legislation introduces significant modifications to the penal regime, incorporating new crimes, adjusting sanctions, and establishing changes in areas such as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":519302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[41062,41205],"class_list":["post-519301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-congress","tag-penal-code"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2b5P","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-30-at-18.33.52-360x240-1.webp","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-30-at-18.33.52-360x240-1.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}