WEBVTT

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The school as a community and as an
institution: what the law protects for your

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campus, when the school answers as a
legal person, and how a compliance program

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turns the rule into a culture of care.

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Section 1 · What this Code protects for you
The school, as a space of reinforced protection.

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The Criminal Code (Ley 74-25, as
amended by Ley 44-26) has been in force since

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August 2026 and sees the school as a
space of reinforced protection: robbery

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committed in a school is aggravated,
carrying 10 to 20 years, and the theft of

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phones and electronic devices has an
aggravating circumstance of its own.

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The Code declares criminal law a “last
resort” and directs THE STATE to give

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priority to prevention and to resolving
conflicts by the least harmful means, in

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keeping with restorative justice.

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That backs up what the Normas de
Convivencia already ask for: mediation,

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positive discipline, peaceful resolution.

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Section 2 · What now has a name Conduct that runs through
institutional life, with a precise criminal definition.

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Harassment “in the educational sphere”
and its aggravated form when the victim

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is a minor — Ley 44-26 removed the word
“bullying”; the conduct itself is unchanged.

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Aggravated harassment within an
educational or training relationship.

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Discrimination that denies access to education
— with express liability for the legal person.

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The sexual exploitation of minors is
aggravated when the person responsible

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holds over the victim “any public or
private authority, whether legal or de

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facto, salaried or not”.

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That reaches coaches,
drivers, support staff, volunteers.

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Hiring, supervising and training
the WHOLE team — not only teachers.

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Section 3 · The school as an
institution: the legal person The biggest

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institutional change — and
its date, stated precisely.

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Legal persons can be held criminally
liable for the acts or omissions of their

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bodies, representatives or subordinates,
where there was also a failure in their

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duties of direction,
control or supervision.

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That regime (Arts.

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8 to 11) DID NOT come into force with
the rest of the Code: it takes effect

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within three months from 5 August 2026.

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The State and public bodies are
exempt: public schools under MINERD do not

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answer as legal persons —
their natural persons do answer.

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Private schools do fall under the
regime: fines of 50 to 500 public-sector

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minimum wages for serious offences and
100 to 1,500 for very serious ones, and

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up to closure or
dissolution in extreme cases.

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Minimum content: a code of conduct,
a risk map, human-rights training, a

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supervisory body, action protocols,
anonymous reporting channels with protection

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for whistleblowers, periodic
review and documentary traceability.

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The law mitigates for real programs
— and exempts where the program was

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circumvented by fraudulent
manoeuvres impossible to detect.

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Section 4 · Reporting: when, to
whom, how Reporting stops being only an

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individual duty: it is an organized one.

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From the moment abuse is known or
suspected: the duty falls on principals,

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teachers and officials, in both public
and private settings, with an exemption

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for anyone who reports in good faith.

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Failing to report ill-treatment or
sexual offences against a minor is a crime —

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and the institution itself
can answer for that omission.

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The internal route — the principal's
office and Orientación y Psicología —

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escalates to the Dirección Distrital
and the Dirección Regional of MINERD.

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For child abuse: referral to the Ministerio
Público or to CONANI within 24 hours at most.

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A risk to life is notified to
the district within 48 hours.

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With a channel that any member of
the community can use without fear —

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accessible, confidential, protecting
the person who reports: exactly what the

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law asks of the compliance program.

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The school receives, records and
refers; it does not investigate crimes or

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negotiate silence.

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Section 5 · The digital environment Online,
the institution also answers as an institution.

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There is express liability for the
legal person for the improper handling of

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personal data, for the unlawful sharing
of images and for defamation and insult.

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Platforms, lists, photos and
official social accounts are matters for

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institutional protocol: what is
collected, who has access, what is published,

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with whose consent.

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Sharing a student's image or data in a
way that stigmatizes them: 2 to 5 years.

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Doctored images and intimate content carry
heavier penalties when the victim is a minor.

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Fake accounts — including those using
the school's name — fall under identity

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theft, and are a very serious
breach of the Normas de Convivencia.

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Section 6 · Adolescents and the law The line
between school discipline and criminal justice.

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Children under 13 are never criminally
responsible: where an act amounts to an

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offence, protective measures apply.

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Adolescents aged 13 to 17 — Art.

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225 is precise: up to and including
the day they turn 18 — answer before the

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criminal justice system for adolescents.

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The penalties in the
Criminal Code are for adults.

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Two tracks that ADD UP rather than
replace each other: the internal educational

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measure — with due process, and no
corporal, financial or collective punishment

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— and referral to the
Fiscalía de Niñez y Adolescencia.

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Even an adolescent who has been
sanctioned keeps the right to education: the

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ruling may order their
enrolment in a school.

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Section 7 · Five practices that protect
the school Observe · Document · Report ·

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Accompany · Look after information

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Observe.

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Draw up the school's own risk map —
the one the law asks of the compliance

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program — with your community,
not copied from another campus.

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Document.

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Documentary traceability: minutes,
written authorizations for outings, incident

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logs, training records — the evidence
that the institution planned, supervised

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and protected.

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Report.

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An accessible, confidential reporting
channel that protects the person who

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reports, and referral to the
authorities within the required deadlines.

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Accompany.

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Active mediation teams and positive
discipline: the restorative response,

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consistent with the principle of
minimum intervention in Art. 2, num. 13.

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Look after information.

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Student data and files under protocol,
images with consent, cases discussed only

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with those who need to act.

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Section 8 · Myths worth letting go of Three sentences about
the institution that do not survive a reading of the text.

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“A private school can
already be convicted as a company.

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” Not yet: the regime of criminal
liability for legal persons (Arts.

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8 to 11) takes effect within
three months from 5 August 2026.

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And once it applies, a school with a
real compliance program can have its

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liability mitigated or lifted altogether.

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“Public schools will be
convicted as institutions too.

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” No: the State and its public bodies
are exempt from the legal-person regime.

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In a public school it is the natural persons
who answer for their own acts or omissions.

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“Having the protocol on
file is enough. ” No.

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The law mitigates or exempts on the
basis of compliance programs that are

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IMPLEMENTED — with training, a
reporting channel actually operating, periodic

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review and a documentary trail —, not
on the basis of documents in a drawer.

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A protocol nobody knows
about protects precisely nobody.

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Commentary, not the letter of the law ·
Three views on this page Signed opinions

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from the editorial team.

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They are not law, and not legal advice.

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Saya Nakamura-Ellis, the
researcher: “The compliance program is a

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continuous-improvement cycle applied
to protection: diagnose risks, train,

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measure, review, document.

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Don't buy a generic manual; build the
risk map with your own community. ”

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Zara Chen-Rodriguez, the innovator:
“Instead of a dull workshop on ‘compliance’,

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turn it into a whole-school project:
let students, teachers and families

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co-design the reporting channel, the
social-media policy and the device

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protocol. ”

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Carlos Miranda Levy, the curator: “This
Code treats the school as an institution

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that learns: it asks for
organization, not perfection.

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Compliance is not defensive
paperwork, it is a culture of care made into a

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system — and that culture
is what families choose. ”

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All of this, article by article, with
every citation linked to the official

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text: ailearning.

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global/penal/rd/en/centro/ This
material is guidance; it does not replace the

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law or legal advice.