Appalling backlog in sexual assault hearings

The statistics on sexual assaults in Panama are as appalling as the crime itself. Between 2016 and 2021, almost 37,000 complaints of sexual offenses have been filed. That gives an annual average of just over 6,000 and 17 complaints per day. Such a number of cases has exceeded the capacity of the Judicial Branch, since in the same period, only slightly more than 25,000 hearings have been held, or an average of only 11.4 daily hearings.

But of those more than 25,000 hearings, only 3,990 have been “resolved”, that is, about 16% of the total cases, of which more than half (56%) have ended in suspension. of the processes or in dismissal or in their prescription. These figures tell us that in Panama there is a huge judicial backlog, with a drag of years in this type of crime.

The other thing that warns us is that, in addition to the delay, there is enormous impunity, judging by the “resolved cases”, many of which have ended in prescription. It is evident then that we have serious problems in guaranteeing people’s sexual integrity, given the serious problems we face. And this would explain why, instead of lowering the commission of sexual crimes, they increase with each passing year. LA PRENSA, Mar. 2.