Update to VEN28654.F and VEN28658.F of 21 January 1998 regarding the quashing of the Law of Vagrants and Crooks and what effect, if any, the ruling has had in practice [VEN30732.E]

The following information was obtained during a 15 December 1998 telephone interview with and a 16 December 1998 e-mail from a professor of criminology at the Catholic University Andrés Bello (Universidad Católica Andrés Bello) in Caracas. The professor is also director of Proyección a la Communidad, an institute in charge of helping and studying various social groups in difficulty in Venezuela, but mainly in Caracas. The institute, which is linked to the Catholic University Andrés Bello, also heads a project named Voluntariado de Trabajo Penitenciario, which provides support to prisoners. The director is one of Venezuela's leading specialists on the penitentiary system and was an advisor to the congressional legislative commission charged with studying various bills to replace the Law of Vagrants and Crooks (Ley de Vagos y Maleantes-LVM) after its repeal by the Supreme Court of Justice.

She reported that she was unaware of any case in which the police has used the LVM to arrest a suspect since its repeal by the Supreme Court of Justice in November 1997. Following further research she sent the Research Directorate an electronic mail confirming that the police cannot use the LVM any longer. She emphazised that it would be very difficult for any police corps to use the LVM to arrest someone since "everybody knows that the law has been repealed. A person could oppose being arrested under that law on the legal ground that it no longer exists and cannot be used." In her e-mail, the professor further explained that a person arrested under the LVM at present could "lodge a habeas corpus against the illegal deprivation of his/her freedom based on the non-existence of the legal material to justify it." ["se deberia recurrir a un Habeas Corpus por privación ilegitima de la libertad con fundamento en la inexistencia material legal para privar a alguien de su libertad."]

She stated that the repeal of the law has been published in the Official Gazette (Gazeta Oficial) therefore confirming its abandonment. In her e-mail, the professor described four bills presented in the Congress for study from 1989 to 1995 which were intended to replace the LVM. None were adopted. The most recent one since the repeal of the LVM is named "Bill on Social Danger and Citizens' Protection" (Proyecto de ley Orgánica Sobre Peligrosidad Social y Protección Ciudadana). It has not been adopted either and its study is currently stalled.

An article from El Universal, one of Venezuela's main newspapers, reports that 555 persons arrested and emprisoned under the LVM had been freed from jail and had their criminal record erased from the Ministry of Justice archives when the law was repealed by Congress. (13 Nov. 1997)

The attached Dallas Morning News article reports on the complete overhaul of Venezuela's criminal justice system that is currently implemented.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Andrés Bello Catholic University, Caracas. 15 December 1998. Telephone interview with a professor of criminology.

_____. 16 December 1998. Electronic mail from professor of criminology.

El Universal. 13 November 1997. Angel Bermúdez. « Borran Antecedentes de Liberados ». [Internet] http://www.el-universal.com/1997/11/13/13112AA.shtml [Consulted on 15 December 1998].

Attachment


The Dallas Morning News. 29 March 1998. Jane Bussey. "Criminal-Justice Revolution to Rock Crumbling Venezuelan Court System." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted


Latinamerica Press [Lima].1998.

Latin America Regional Reports [London]: Andean Group Reports.1998.

Latin America Weekly Report [London].1998.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, Global News Bank, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC), VHeadline/VENews, El Nacional, El Universal.