Tougher Measures against Crime
Authorities in Bucharest are proposing tougher measures against severe offences against the person as well as improvements of the 112 emergency service
Mihai Pelin, 23.08.2019, 13:35
The Justice Ministry in Romania toughens
up punishment for severe crimes against the person at the same time changing
conditions for searching a house as well as probation rules.
A project on amending the Penal
Codes has been tabled by Minister Ana Birchall, who said the government’s
purpose is to have regulations to prevent tragedies like the one that recently
happened in Caracal, southern Romania, where a serial killer kidnapped, raped
and murdered two teenagers.
Kidnapping is punishable by prison
sentences between 2 and 8 years. The age limit for probation will increase from
60 to 65 years and so will other cumulative conditions such as the one forcing
the criminal to serve 25 years in prison instead of 20 at present. The
anti-mafia department DIICOT will also have more competences.
Ana Birchall: We propose an
extension of DIICOT competences also for the aggravating versions of the crimes
of kidnapping and enslaving persons, due to the severity and complexity of such
offences.
The new amendments will allow the
police to carry out a house search right away and not in 24 hours as the law
presently stipulates. Furthermore, police will be allowed to carry out searches
at night between 8 pm and 6 am in severe cases.
The aforementioned amendments are
to be passed through emergency ordinances and come after more than 16 thousand
inmates have been released since October 2017 through the compensatory appeal
law endorsed by former Justice Ministry Tudorel Toader, backed at that time by
the PSD-ALDE coalition. Some of these inmates who were serving sentences for
murder, theft or rape relapsed into criminal behavior shortly after their
release.
Another project proposed by the
government is aimed at increasing the performance of the 112 emergency service.
One of the most controversial rules is about preventing the purchase of prepaid
cards without identification since almost half of the total number of emergency
calls last year proved to be prank calls. According to Interior Minister Raed
Arafat, the method, which has already been implemented in 22 European
countries, is meant to discourage prank callers at the same time enabling
rescuers to locate the person who needs help.
Raed Arafat A person calls for help but before being
able to provide the necessary data, they may pass out. They may be alone and we
will not be able to locate their position. We’ll call them once, twice and then
it’s …over.
Another amendment refers to the
possibility of locating a caller by means of Google satellites with an accuracy
of up to 50 meters as compared to 20 or 30 kilometers allowed by the present
system.
(translated by bill)
