The government approved this Thursday a draft law on criminal policy for 2023-2025, which focuses on combating gang and juvenile delinquency, helping illegal immigration and fraud in obtaining subsidies indicating the funds of the PDP.
The approval of the proposed law was announced by Minister of Justice Catarina Sarmento e Castro at a press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, who, regarding the fight against fraud in obtaining subsidies to the population, mentioned that the government should take into account the current context of disbursement of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Program ( PRR) and other ongoing community programs.
According to the minister, the proposal defines the general goals of criminal policy for the coming years, such as procedural speed and efficiency, and more specific goals related to the priorities of crimes that “urgently prevent and suppress.”
“As crimes of priority investigation, we have here, as an innovation, crimes that are committed in the form of organized crime or group violence, as well as drug trafficking, including in prison conditions, not because of their increase, but because of their connection with others. crimes and the consequences for life in prisons. The crime of spreading the disease has been eliminated given the context we live in today,” he said.
He added that the law maintains as priorities the fight against corruption and money laundering, domestic violence, human trafficking, crimes against freedom and sexual self-determination, crimes related to forest fires or traffic crimes.
The minister referred to the fact that the law on criminal policy, which does not replace but coexists with the previous one, since it does not expire, was drafted in listening to the criminal police and taking into account the updated data of the Annual Security Report. Internal (RASI).
According to Catarina Sarmento and Castro, the proposal has a “special focus on the victims” with a proposal to open two victim support offices per year.
“The focus on the victim is something new in this criminal policy law, which is in line with what we are doing in the Ministry of Justice in terms of defining a national victim protection strategy, which will be done for the first time in Portugal. The Criminal Policy Act already has a manifestation of this strategy, proposing to the Assembly of the Republic that the government be required to establish two new victim support offices per year,” the minister said.
Catarina Sarmento i Castro said the diploma also highlights violence in sports and match-fixing.
With regard to social reintegration, the minister says that the law includes strengthening the mandatory communication of existing programs to the courts.
“This is a law that concerns not only crimes, prevention of crimes, suppression and investigation, but also the consequences of crimes. And so, in addition to the victims, it also concerns reintegration. For example, it is written in the law that annually the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services must report to the supreme councils of the judiciary of the programs existing for reintegration programs so that the courts can have at their disposal the existing menu, ”he explained.