The Republic of Moldova gained both independence and sovereignty in 1991, since when reform of the judicial system in general, and of the criminal justice system in particular, has been begun, leading to changes in the legislation regarding the status of judges, the organisation of the justice system, the status of accused persons, etc.

Now, 12 years later, the criminal justice system still faces serious problems, from the unacceptably long duration of the procedure and violations of detainees' rights to prison overcrowding and a lack of rehabilitation schemes.
In order to detect the weak points of the criminal justice system, the Institute for Penal Reform carried out a detailed analysis, encompassing the Moldovan criminal justice system and the phases of criminal procedure (investigation, trial and enforcement of penalties), in the light of both the legislative framework in force prior to June 12 2003 and the one which came into force on that date.

One of the aims of this report is to present a complete and objective picture of the functioning of the criminal justice system, its strong points, as well as the existing weaknesses and shortcomings. In the process of drafting this report, the Institute not only used official data - existing laws and draft legislation, statistical data presented by state bodies (Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Department of Penitentiary Institutions, Chišinău city prosecutor's office, etc) - but also made use of the findings of independent sociological research and surveys, as well as other reports based on field work.

STEERING GROUP FOR PRISON REFORM IN MOLDOVA