Students

Since August 2026, the Dominican Republic has a new Criminal Code. Before you think about punishments, look at what it says about you: when the victim of an offense is a child or adolescent, the law responds with more force. If someone hits you and causes a serious injury, the penalty is doubled Art. 147·Ley 74-25. If an adult harasses you, the harassment counts as aggravated Art. 122·Ley 74-25. If intimate content of yours is shared around, the penalty reaches greater imprisonment (prisión mayor) Art. 192·Ley 74-25.

This page is not a list of threats. It is the map of a shield the law built around you — and it works better when you know it is there.

First, the question everybody gets wrong: from what age is a person criminally responsible? The answer comes in bands:

• Under 13: there is never criminal responsibility. You cannot be arrested, deprived of liberty or punished criminally Art. 223·Ley 136-03 (the Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents).
• From 13 to 17: you answer to the criminal justice system for adolescents, a separate system with its own specialized court and prosecutor's office Art. 225·Ley 136-03 — and that includes the very day you turn 18: the law says “until the day they turn 18 years of age, that day included”. Its declared purpose is “education, rehabilitation and social integration” Art. 326·Ley 136-03: socio-educational sanctions and guidance orders Art. 327·Ley 136-03. Deprivation of liberty is exceptional Art. 336·Ley 136-03 and, in its home and free-time forms, it must not get in the way of your attendance at school Arts. 337-338·Ley 136-03.
• From the day after your 18th birthday: the penalties of the adult Criminal Code apply.

That the system aims to educate you does not mean nothing happens: the consequences are real and they stay with you. It means the law is betting on your future instead of cancelling it. And watch out: school discipline and a criminal case are two separate, independent tracks Art. 30·Ordenanza 05-2023 (the MINERD school-coexistence rules).

For the first time, the Dominican Criminal Code describes what you know close up, in exact words: intimidating, insulting, mocking, encouraging exclusion or isolation “in the educational setting” in order to shame, humiliate or isolate someone. That is called harassment, and it is a criminal offense Art. 121·Ley 74-25. The word “bullying” left the legal text with Ley 44-26, but the conduct is still defined as an offense, identically, under that name.

And when the victim is a child or adolescent — or when the harassment drives the victim to suicide — it becomes aggravated harassment, carrying greater imprisonment (prisión mayor) for adult perpetrators Art. 122·Ley 74-25. In your school, on top of that, bullying is a very serious offense with its own procedure Art. 23·Ordenanza 05-2023.

Why does it matter that it has a name? Because what has a legal name can be pointed at, documented and stopped. It is no longer “messing around” or “kids being kids”: it is conduct that your counselor, your family and the Fiscalía (the prosecutor's office) all describe with the same words.

The law treats your phone as what it is: an extension of your privacy. That protects you — and it asks something of you.

• Sharing an intimate image of another person — even if it was sent to you, even if “everyone has it” — is an offense, and if the person in the image is a minor, the penalty rises to greater imprisonment (prisión mayor) Art. 192·Ley 74-25. Forwarding counts as sharing too.
• Creating a fake edit using someone's face that damages their honor or their image: 2 to 5 years Art. 192, Párr. I·Ley 74-25 — the law punishes false or altered images, videos or audio “by means of montage or by any other form”, and that open wording reaches edits made with artificial intelligence, even though the Code does not name them.
• If someone pressures you with an image of you to get money, more photos or your silence: what people call sextortion is blackmail Art. 233·Ley 74-25 and sharing with intent to extort Art. 192, Párr. II·Ley 74-25. The law is on your side, not on the side of whoever is threatening you.
• If an adult contacts you on social media for sexual purposes — what people call grooming — that already amounts to sexual harassment by electronic means Art. 145, Párr. I·Ley 74-25, and supplying you with pornography is sexual exploitation Art. 180.6·Ley 74-25. And if it goes as far as sexual assault or rape, having used cyberspace or a digital platform to reach you is a circumstance that aggravates the penalty Art. 134, Párr. II.5·Ley 74-25 Art. 137.7·Ley 74-25.
• Opening a fake account in the name of a classmate or a teacher is identity theft Art. 188·Ley 74-25.

A simple rule before you post: if the person in the photo would not say yes, you already know the answer.

Speaking up is not “snitching”: it switches on a system that exists for you. You have the right to be heard, expressly within the school setting Art. 16·Ley 136-03, and the education system must have reporting channels in schools, in the Dirección Distrital (the district education office) and in the Dirección Regional (the regional education office) Art. 50·Ley 136-03.

Who do you tell? Your counselor, a teacher you trust, the school leadership, your family. Any of them works as a way in, because the adults at your school are required by law to act when they know about — or even suspect — abuse Art. 14·Ley 136-03; staying silent can be a criminal offense for them Art. 325·Ley 74-25.

And speaking up is protected: anyone who reports in good faith is exempt from liability Art. 14·Ley 136-03, and threatening someone so they do not report, or so they take it back, is in itself an offense Art. 328·Ley 74-25. If what you saw is happening to someone else, your voice counts just as much: many protections only switch on when someone speaks first.

1. Ask before you post. A photo, video or audio with another person in it: ask first. It is the habit that keeps you permanently on the right side of Art. 186 and Art. 192.
2. Never forward intimate content. Not “to warn people”, not “to laugh at whoever sent it”. Delete it and report it: forwarding is sharing.
3. Keep evidence if you are being harassed. Dated screenshots, names of witnesses. Do not reply with insults: document and hand it over.
4. Name your two trusted adults — one at school, one outside — before you need them: in a bad moment, nobody thinks straight.
5. Read your school's coexistence rules. They must be available and shared with everyone every year Art. 14·Ordenanza 05-2023. Knowing the rules does not limit you: it gives you the solid ground from which to claim your own.

“Now they lock you up for bullying”

The reality — False. Under 13: there is never criminal responsibility Art. 223·Ley 136-03. From 13 to 17: specialized justice with socio-educational sanctions and exceptional deprivation of liberty Art. 336·Ley 136-03. The prison penalties in Art. 121-122 are for adults.

“If I tell what I saw and I get it wrong, they will come after me”

The reality — A false report requires lying knowingly Art. 329·Ley 74-25. Telling in good faith what you saw or suspect is expressly protected Art. 14·Ley 136-03.

“Filming and sharing the fight at recess is just for laughs”

The reality — Sharing images that stigmatize a minor is an offense for an adult Art. 186, Párr. III·Ley 74-25; for you it is a serious or very serious offense at school Art. 23·Ordenanza 05-2023 and, from age 13, it can reach the Fiscalía de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes (the child and adolescent prosecutor's office).