The Reasonable Timeframe as a Fundamental Right: Its Criminal Law Configuration in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

An unjustified judicial delay is succinctly analyzed within Dominican criminal law as a violation of the fundamental right to a reasonable timeframe, as part of the fundamental right to effective judicial protection, which is indissolubly linked and interrelated—being indivisible and interdependent—to the effective enjoyment of the superior right to due process, which encompasses the so-called fundamental judicial guarantees. The institutional fulfillment of the duty to guarantee the fundamental right to a reasonable timeframe, inherent to human dignity, holds constitutional rank and is expressly established in the National Constitution and Dominican legislation in general, being configured within the scope of criminal law and proscribing the judicial practice of unreasonable procedural delay. It is affirmed that its effective satisfaction, in the criminal (and administrative) sphere, is linked to the enjoyment of the superior right to effective judicial protection (and the range of guarantees and fundamental rights it comprises), whose fulfillment aims at achieving a valuable life project, human flourishing, and the active and effective functioning of the individual before the justice system in society, in order to promote the full realization of their fundamental human rights, which are the cornerstone of their personal happiness, allowing the State and its agents to provide opportunities for the development of their talents and capabilities, with institutional conditions and material means for their material satisfaction, which enables their contribution to the common good—that is, their tangible contribution to social happiness.