Shelter and protection for victims and witnesses: the new 2026 law

It is the new victims and witnesses protection law, in force since July 1, 2026, replacing the 1986 one. It creates a shelter programme with two separate sections — one for cooperating witnesses and one for crime victims — inside the Justice Department. What matters most for someone at risk fits in one sentence of the law: the referral may come about because the victim themselves requests it.

The Act provides that the Secretary of Justice shall establish by regulation the admission criteria and the referral system to the Program. Referrals shall occur when a prosecutor recommends it, when the victim requests it, or when it is suspected that a victim, a witness and their relatives are at risk of threat, attack or other forms of intimidation by the suspect, the accused, relatives, friends or associates. We do not publish the admission criteria because they live in a regulation we did not read.

• That there be a referral: a prosecutor recommends it, the victim requests it, or a risk of threat, attack or other intimidation against the victim, witness or their relatives is suspected.Verified against the official source
• For the Crime Victims’ Home, the technical recommendation of the Office of Compensation and Services to Crime Victims and Witnesses or of the Office of the Chief of Prosecutors.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The victim may request it themselves

   The sentence most worth knowing, and the law writes it among the three referral routes: referrals “shall occur when a prosecutor recommends it, the victim requests it, or it is suspected that a victim, witness and their relatives are at risk of threat, attack or other forms of intimidation by the suspect, the accused, relatives, friends or associates.” There is no need to wait for a prosecutor to propose it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Two sections, for two different situations

   The Program has the Cooperating Witness Protection Center and the Crime Victims’ Home, both attached to the Office of the Chief of Prosecutors of the Justice Department. Knowing which one fits helps you ask correctly: the Home is for crime victims; the Center is for cooperating witnesses.

3. 3

   Step 3: What the Crime Victims’ Home is for

   The law describes it with three situations, and they are worth seeing because not all require an ongoing trial. The Home “is destined to protect crime victims who, on the technical recommendation of the Office of Compensation and Services to Crime Victims and Witnesses or the Office of the Chief of Prosecutors, must be protected while cooperating with a criminal investigation or judicial process, need emergency protection and shelter, or must for safety reasons be relocated to another home or jurisdiction.”

4. 4

   Step 4: Separate areas inside the Home

   A concrete fact about how it is organised, and the law sets it: the Home “shall have a separate area for adult men and adolescents and another for adult women, adolescents and families.”

5. 5

   Step 5: The emergency line, with its condition

   We say it as the law writes it, because the condition matters: “The Justice Department may establish, if resources permit, an emergency line serving crime victims and witnesses, against any threat to their lives.” And it adds a duty that is firm: “Every person who qualifies for assistance or protection under this Act must be oriented about the existence and use of the emergency line.”

6. 6

   Step 6: The law binds even without the regulation

   This helps if someone tells you to wait. The law orders the Secretary to establish the Program’s regulation “within the ninety (90) days following its approval,” and closes the article thus: “The absence of the regulation shall not prevent this Act from taking effect.” The Act took effect on July 1, 2026.

7. 7

   Step 7: How the law is to be interpreted

   There is an article devoted to it and it is worth quoting if you must argue a case: “This Act’s provisions shall be interpreted in the way that results in the greatest benefit of the residents of the CPTC and the HVDD, provided it is consistent with and aligned to the law’s purposes.”

8. 8

   Step 8: What changed from the 1986 law

   Worth knowing because a lot of old references circulate. The repealing clause article says: “Act No. 77 of July 9, 1986, as amended, known as the ‘Victims and Witnesses Protection Act,’ is hereby repealed.” If you find guidance still referring you to Act 77-1986’s requirements, that Act is no longer in force.

The Program is attached to the Office of the Chief of Prosecutors of the Justice Department, and the Office of Compensation and Services to Crime Victims and Witnesses makes the technical recommendation for the Crime Victims’ Home. That is where you ask. If your matter is the victims and witnesses bill of rights, or help from the Rape Victims Assistance Center, those have their own guides; if you need a protection order, so does that.

• Waiting for a prosecutor to propose it: the law allows the victim themselves to request the referral.
• Relying on guidance based on Act 77-1986: that Act was repealed by this one.
• Believing an ongoing trial is needed: the law also covers the need for emergency protection and shelter and relocation for safety.
• Assuming that without the regulation the law does not apply: its text says the regulation’s absence does not prevent it taking effect.
• Confusing the two sections: the Home is for crime victims and the Center for cooperating witnesses.
• Taking the emergency line’s existence for granted: the law conditions it on resources permitting.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Justicia de Puerto Rico

  Justicia

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov