Criminal law in Haiti

Haiti's Constitution of 1987, amended in 2011, protects legality, due process, public and fair hearings, judicial independence and the right to appeal. French and Haitian Creole are official languages, but laws and many proceedings use French, which can create a practical language-access problem. The death penalty is constitutionally prohibited. The current criminal-law framework still relies on the 1835 Code pénal and Code d'instruction criminelle. An infraction is a criminal violation, with the operative framework distinguishing categories such as crime, délit and contravention. The codes address offences including homicide, rape and other sexual offences, kidnapping or sequestration, theft, violent robbery, extortion and association de malfaiteurs. Special laws add rules on trafficking, drugs, corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing, terrorism and arms. Penalties depend on the applicable offence and statute and require case-specific verification. Revised criminal and procedural codes were adopted in 2020 and revised in 2025, but they were not yet operational on 9 September 2026. The MJSP and UNDP launched an implementation programme in July 2026, with planned entry in January 2027. That date should be checked in Le Moniteur before anyone relies on new provisions such as a general liberty rule, limits on pretrial detention, alternatives to imprisonment, a juge des libertés or a juge de l'application des peines. Planned changes also include broader sexual-violence offences, including sexual harassment. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, called MJSP, formulates justice and police policy and supervises courts and prosecution offices. The Haitian National Police, or PNH, handles law enforcement. Its investigative arm, the DCPJ, works on major crime, evidence, perpetrators, organized crime, homicide, kidnapping, drugs, financial crime and cybercrime. Specialized functions include BAC, ULCS, BPM, CCE, BLTS, BAFE and BPST. The Parquet, led by the Commissaire du Gouvernement, prosecutes in the public interest. A juge d'instruction is an investigating judge who conducts the judicial investigation where the procedure requires one. A complaint can be reported to a local police station or commissariat, to the PNH emergency number 114, to the DCPJ or to the Parquet. Response capacity and evidence preservation are highly uneven, especially outside Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. Two specialized judicial units created in April 2025 address mass or serious human-rights violations, including sexual violence, and complex corruption or financial crime; their operationalization continued during 2026. Tribunaux de paix handle petty violations. Serious offences and crimes generally proceed through the Parquet and a Tribunal de première instance, or TPI, with a juge d'instruction where applicable. Haiti has 18 TPIs in 10 departments. A criminal hearing may legally take place with or without a jury. Appeals go to a Cour d'appel and cassation review goes to the Cour de Cassation. The Conseil supérieur du pouvoir judiciaire, or CSPJ, administers and disciplines the judiciary. The Office de la Protection du Citoyen, or OPC, accepts free complaints about abuse by public administration or detention authorities, but it does not replace a criminal prosecution. A person arrested in flagrante delicto or under a competent warrant has formal protections during the investigation. Interrogation requires an attorney or a witness chosen by the person. A judge should review the arrest within 48 hours, and an illegal arrest should lead to immediate release. The accused can challenge the legality of detention, seek habeas corpus, present a defence and evidence, and confront witnesses. Bail exists in law but is rarely used in practice. Strikes, insecurity, missing judges and clerks, damaged courts, unofficial fees and reported bribery contribute to severe delays. There is no dependable nationwide duration or cost for a criminal case, and pretrial detention often lasts for years. CNAL/BAL provides free legal aid to eligible indigent accused persons and, in some circumstances, to victims and minors. Eligibility and actual access depend on location and institutional capacity. Private counsel, transport, medical documents, document retrieval and unofficial court charges can create additional costs. A person should preserve complaint records, medical evidence, messages, names of witnesses and proof of expenses when it is safe to do so. Sanctions can include imprisonment, fines, correctional or criminal penalties, confiscation and measures created by special laws. The Administration pénitentiaire operates prisons. In practice, the immediate risk can be pretrial incarceration rather than a final sentence. In April 2026, Haiti's prison population was reported as 7,551 people, including 6,262 pretrial detainees, or 82.93 percent of the total. Occupancy was 312 percent, with average space of 0.34 square metres per detainee. Overcrowding, weak ventilation, shortages of food, healthcare and sanitation, deaths, escapes and gang influence affect detention conditions. Victims normally use the PNH, DCPJ or Parquet pathway, followed by investigation and proceedings before a TPI. A sexual-violence complaint legally should not require a medical certificate, although practice may treat such a certificate as decisive. Fear of retaliation or information leaks, stigma, unsafe travel, weak police documentation and limited shelter, medical, psychosocial and legal support can prevent reporting. The MJSP sexual-violence commission received 110 cases by September 2025, resolved 29, all outside Port-au-Prince, and closed one without action. The CNLTP and CNAL/BAL can provide referral or legal assistance for trafficking victims, but support and representation remain territorially uneven. Rural informal settlements of criminal matters have been reported, but they are not a formal substitute for prosecution. Youth justice applies different rules. Children under 13 are generally criminally exempt. Children aged 13 to under 16 are subject to special juvenile measures and rehabilitation under Articles 50 and 51 of the Code pénal, while the adult regime may apply from age 16; the exact legal treatment should be checked against the statute governing the case. The Tribunal pour enfants and CERMICOL are part of the juvenile system. Detention should be a last resort, children should be separated from adults and legal aid is available, but juvenile courts have limited coverage and prolonged detention, unsafe separation and critical overcrowding persist. Children involved with gangs should first be treated as victims or child-protection cases, while any serious-offence process still follows juvenile standards. Road offences are governed mainly by the Decree of 26 May 2006 on vehicle registration and circulation and related traffic rules. The PNH DCPR and traffic police control enforcement. Driving documents, vehicle registration, insurance, licences, speed and alcohol rules can create legal consequences, and a death or serious injury may trigger a criminal investigation. Enforcement and response vary by territory. Digital offences remain a developing area: the current 1835 Code pénal has no comprehensive cybercrime and electronic-evidence framework. The DCPJ lists a cybercrime function, but that institutional label does not by itself establish a complete statutory regime or new digital-search powers.