Educators

The new Criminal Code (Ley 74-25, amended by Ley 44-26) has been in force since August 2026 Art. 393·Ley 74-25. If someone threatens you — in person, in writing or over WhatsApp — to make you change a grade or keep quiet, that conduct is a criminal offense Art. 154·Ley 74-25. If you work in a public school, a threat aimed at bending an official act of your duties carries 5 to 10 years Art. 309·Ley 74-25.

Your good name is protected too: publicly imputing a specific fact that damages your honor, your good name or your image is defamation, whatever public form is used — social media included — Art. 208·Ley 74-25; and an offensive expression that imputes no specific fact is insult, expressly including “by streaming, by electronic means or in cyberspace” Art. 210·Ley 74-25. Ley 44-26 lowered the penalty for defamation, from two-to-five years down to one-to-two years of lesser imprisonment (prisión menor). And when you report a suspicion of abuse against a student in good faith, the law declares you exempt from criminal and civil liability Art. 14·Ley 136-03 (Ley 136-03, the Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents). The law did not come to watch over you: it came to back up your work well done.

For the first time, the Dominican Criminal Code describes school harassment in the words you use in the classroom: intimidating, insulting, mocking, encouraging exclusion or isolation “in the educational sphere” in order to shame, humiliate or hinder the development of a person or group Art. 121·Ley 74-25. Ley 44-26 removed the word “bullying” from the legal text; the conduct described is the same. When the victim is a child or adolescent, a person with a disability or in a situation of vulnerability, or when the harassment leads to suicide, the offense is aggravated to greater imprisonment (prisión mayor) Art. 122·Ley 74-25.

Two more things now have a name: repeated harassment that disrupts everyday life Art. 143·Ley 74-25 — aggravated when it occurs “within a working, educational or training relationship” Art. 144·Ley 74-25 — and cruel or degrading treatment that demeans dignity, aggravated if the victim is a student who is a minor Art. 119·Ley 74-25. The result: a shared language with families, with the school leadership and with the prosecutor's office.

Between you and your students there is a relationship of authority and trust, and the law protects it by increasing the penalty for anyone who betrays it. Abusing that authority aggravates sexual assault Art. 134·Ley 74-25, rape Art. 137·Ley 74-25 and sexual harassment in academic settings Art. 145·Ley 74-25. Subjecting a minor in your care or under your supervision to humiliation, pressure or blackmail is an offense in its own right Art. 171·Ley 74-25, and Ley 136-03 penalizes physical, psychological or sexual abuse by anyone holding authority, custody or supervision — its text mentions the teacher expressly Art. 396·Ley 136-03.

That same relationship carries a duty of care: someone who is a guarantor of another person's protection and who, being able to prevent an outcome, does not prevent it, may be liable by omission Art. 12·Ley 74-25. In the aggravated abandonment of a minor, the word “maestro” (teacher) appears in the legal text; the maximum penalty of 20 to 30 years applies only where the abandonment is followed by the death of the child or adolescent and is committed by someone who had authority over them — the text names the father, the mother, the guardian and the teacher — Art. 215, Párr. II·Ley 74-25. None of this turns every lapse into a crime: it requires a duty, a real possibility of acting, and an omission equivalent to causing the harm. The MINERD Código de Ética (the code of ethics for schools of the Dominican Ministry of Education; Orden 22/2023, Arts. 10 to 13) maps the practical path: a strictly academic and formative relationship, group and institutional digital communication, no private meetings outside the school, no gifts.

When. From the moment you know or suspect a situation of abuse or violation of a student's rights. The obligation reaches teaching professionals, principals and officials, in both public and private schools Art. 14·Ley 136-03. Failing to inform the authorities about ill-treatment or sexual offenses against a minor is a criminal offense, carrying 2 to 3 years of imprisonment Art. 325·Ley 74-25; for a public servant who refrains from reporting, the penalty is aggravated Art. 327·Ley 74-25.

To whom. The internal route is the school leadership and the Guidance and Psychology team, who escalate to the MINERD district and regional offices; in cases of child abuse, referral to the Ministerio Público (the public prosecution service) or to CONANI must happen within a maximum of 24 hours, under the MINERD Código de Ética (Orden 22/2023, Art. 42). Your report to an administrative or judicial authority already discharges the legal duty Art. 325·Ley 74-25.

How. Listen without interrogating, write down what you saw and heard, with the date, and hand the record over through the route. Do not investigate, do not stage confrontations, do not promise absolute confidentiality: promise support. Professional secrecy does not stop you from reporting — disclosing abuse against a minor to the authorities is expressly exempted Art. 196·Ley 74-25 — and anyone who reports in good faith is exempt from liability Art. 14·Ley 136-03.

The law treats a student's phone as what it is: an extension of their private life. Spreading threatening, insulting or intimidating messages or posts in order to humiliate, degrade or isolate someone is cyber-harassment Art. 123·Ley 74-25. Spreading intimate content obtained under an expectation of confidentiality is an offense, and creating or spreading false or altered images, videos or audio “by means of montages or by any other form” that damage someone's honor or their own image carries 2 to 5 years; the penalty rises to greater imprisonment (prisión mayor) when the victim is a minor or a relationship of authority exists Art. 192·Ley 74-25. That open-ended wording reaches montages made with artificial intelligence, even though the Code does not name them.

Disclosing a minor's image or personal data in a way that stigmatizes them or harms their development is aggravated to 2 to 5 years Art. 186·Ley 74-25. Opening an account in the name of a teacher or a classmate is identity theft Art. 188·Ley 74-25, and sexual harassment by electronic means carries its own penalty Art. 145·Ley 74-25. Your best practice is already written into the Código de Ética (Orden 22/2023, Art. 13): on digital tools, no one-to-one dealings with students — only group and institutional spaces.

The most misunderstood point about the new Code lies outside it, in Ley 136-03, which remains in force. A child under 13 is never criminally responsible: they cannot be detained, deprived of liberty or sanctioned by any authority Art. 223·Ley 136-03. From their thirteenth birthday until the day they turn 18, an adolescent answers to the juvenile criminal justice system Art. 225·Ley 136-03, whose declared purpose is “education, rehabilitation and social reintegration” Art. 326·Ley 136-03, with socio-educational measures and deprivation of liberty only as an exception Art. 336·Ley 136-03.

The prison terms in the Code — the “20 years”, the “30 years” — are for adults. And the school's disciplinary measure and the juvenile criminal process run on parallel tracks: the school sanction, always with due process and without corporal, financial or collective punishment Art. 48·Ley 136-03, does not replace referral to the Fiscalía de Niñez y Adolescencia (the child and adolescent prosecutor's office) when the act may amount to a criminal offense, in line with the Ordenanza 05-2023 (the MINERD school-coexistence rules, Art. 30).

1. Observe. The law activates your duty from suspicion, not from certainty Art. 14·Ley 136-03. Noticing a change of mood, a repeated absence or an unexplained mark is the first protection for your students — and for you.
2. Document. Write down what you saw and when, in your own words, without interpreting. A dated record turns your diligence into a demonstrable fact Art. 12·Ley 74-25.
3. Report. Take the record to the school leadership and to Guidance and Psychology, and follow the route through to the competent authority. Reporting protects you; staying silent exposes you Art. 325·Ley 74-25.
4. Support. The Code declares criminal law a “last resort” and instructs the State to give priority to prevention and to less damaging conflict resolution, in keeping with restorative justice Art. 2, num. 13·Ley 74-25. Listening without judging, mediating and following up is consistent with that principle — and it is, moreover, what the Ordenanza 05-2023 asks of the school (Arts. 4 and 35).
5. Look after the information. The case is discussed only with those who need to act on it. Exposing a student's identity or image can be a criminal offense Art. 186·Ley 74-25; your discretion is part of the protection.

“With this Code I can no longer correct a student or set discipline.” False. Correcting, reprimanding, holding a phone until the end of the school day or applying educational measures is exactly what the Ordenanza 05-2023 requires (Arts. 18, 21 and 24). What the law prohibits is something else: violence, humiliation and degrading treatment Art. 119·Ley 74-25 Art. 147·Ley 74-25.

“If I report and I am wrong, I will be accused of making a false report.” A false report requires voluntarily presenting an authority with an accusation known to be false Art. 329·Ley 74-25; reporting a suspicion that is later not confirmed is not that. Anyone who reports a reasonable suspicion of abuse against a student is exempt from criminal and civil liability Art. 14·Ley 136-03.

“Insulting a teacher is contempt of a public official.” Not any more: Ley 44-26 limited that offense to the judicial sphere Art. 310·Ley 74-25. Your honor is still protected through insult Art. 210·Ley 74-25, defamation Art. 208·Ley 74-25 and threats Art. 154·Ley 74-25.