Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Splitu (Jan 2010)
Which Direction is Juvenile Criminal Legislation taking? - (2nd part)
Abstract
This paper analyses criminal proceedings against juveniles before the youth court in the light of the forthcoming amendment to the Youth Court Act. The author firstly identifies some important characteristics of Croatian criminal procedure against juveniles and analyses how, in the existing juvenile legislation, fundamental juvenile rights are incorporated from appropriate international documents (the so called Beijing Rules, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child). A comparative view of the organization and jurisdiction of juvenile courts in 12 Europen countries shows that, in Europe, two models of juvenile judiciary dominate: the judicial and the protection models. Given the dominant role of the youth court judge throughout the entire criminal proceedings against juveniles, the Croatian youth court can be enumerated into the welfare model in which the youth court judge does not only have an investigative function in the preparatory proceedings, but also a judicial function in the proceedings before the youth council. After presenting and analysing the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Nortier v. The Netherlands which can also be applied to the Croatian juvenile judiciary, and presenting the results of the questionnaire carried out among youth court judges in Croatia, the author reaches the conclusion that integrating the investigative and juduicial roles for the youth court judge does not mean violating the right of the juvenile to an impartial tribunal according to Article 6 Section 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Finally, the author identifies the possible consequences which could occur as the result of entire separation among the investigative and judicial role in the proceedings before the youth court.
