The nation’s sex crimes prosecutors will be involved in a new project that seeks to attack cases of the commercial exploitation of children and youth.

The Poder Judicial said that the project will be outlined Friday in the presence of the president of the Corte Suprema, Luis Paulino Mora Mora, and the chief prosecutor, Francisco Dall’anese Ruiz.

The informational system will be installed in the eight offices of prosecutors that are specialized in sex crimes and domestic violence, said the Poder Judicial.

However, the first step is to conduct a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the country for setting up such a system, said the Poder Judicial.

The system appears to be a computerized data base that would contain the characteristics and method of operation of those who would exploit children and youth. The system also would monitor and evaluate the investigations and the court actions against those who are involved in such cases, said the Poder Judicial.

The system is being provided by the Fundación Paniamor, the Italian government, the United Nations and an international organization.

The Poder Judicial and the Ministerio Público, the independent prosecuting arm, have been embarrassed in the last two years because a special task force of the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública started arresting sex crime suspects and criminals who had been on the loose for years. In many cases, the individuals had been convicted but had not been delivered to prison.

Security mininstry agents tracked down some 46 fugitives in 2005 alone. These were convicted criminals who the Sección de Capturas of the Judicial Investigating Organization was supposed to collar. Some had been on the run for years. The most spectacular arrest by the special security ministry unit was of a school teacher during a student assembly in Zarcero Sept. 14.

The response of the Judicial Investigating Organization and Dall’anese was to prohibit elements of the security ministry from doing any kind of investigation. They said that investigation was the sole responsibility of the judicial police and prosecutors.

The arrest Oct. 9, 2003, of Sinaí Monge Muñoz, a madam specializing in providing women to the well-heeled, further embarrassed the Poder Judicial. As the case unfolded, it became clear that even some judicial police operatives were her customers. Some ministry cars were seen at her establishment, presumably to pick up prostitutes for delivery. Little of the evidence collected in an intensive and prolonged investigation of the woman ever was revealed in court.  Dall’anese said later that there was no customer list found. The woman got eight years, a sentence that was interpreted as a reward for silence.

The Judicial Investigating Organization is still looking into the human trafficking of prostitutes to Canada in 1999, according to the agents involved.