The Portuguese court system has failed to complete and judge an average of four crimes per day, including serious offences such as rape and murder.
According to the Ministry of Justice, over 7,000 defendants have escaped a possible conviction in criminal proceedings between 2008 and 2012.
Half of these relate to crimes listed under various ‘miscellaneous laws’ such as issuing cheques that bounce, driving without a license and smaller tax crimes.
More seriously there are 428 cases of defendants accused of crimes against the person such as murder, aggravated physical assault or even rape where rulings have not been given and now never will be.
The Ministry commented that number has been decreasing year on year as in 2009 there were 1,489 such cases, but in 2012 there were only 752.
This may be a decline of 49% but nothing less than a 100% reduction should be achieved and a fuller explanation given as to how this situation has arisen in the first place.
