Provinces of the Dominican Republic provinces and their capital cities. The population figures are from the 2014 population estimate. Provinces of the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is divided into thirty–one "provincias" (provinces; singular "provincia"), while the national capital, Santo Domingo, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional ("National District"; "D.N." on the map below). The division of the country into provinces is laid down in the constitution (Title I, Section II, Article 5) and enacted by law. The latter is currently Law 5220 on the Territorial Division of the Dominican Republic ("Ley No. 5220 sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana"), issued 1959 and
Crime in the Dominican Republic Crime in the Dominican Republic Crime in the Dominican Republic is investigated by the Dominican Republic National Police. In 2012, the Dominican Republic had a murder rate of 22.1 per 100,000 population. There were a total of 2,268 murders in the Dominican Republic in 2012. By 2017, the murder rate had significantly declined. There were 1,198 murders in 2017, a rate of 14.9 per 100,000. The Dominican Republic has become a trans-shipment point for Colombian drugs destined to Europe as well as the United States and Canada. Money laundering via the Dominican Republic is favored by Colombian drug cartels for