Police and Security, Vol. 34 No. 1, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.59245/ps.34.1.1
Application of EU Legal Standards in Misdemeanour Proceedings Towards Juveniles in Croatia
Ivana Radić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4946-6437
; Pravni fakulteta Sveučilišta u Splitu, Hrvatska
Abstract
In Croatia, when a juvenile commits a misdemeanour, provisions of the Misdemeanour Act will be applied, as well as the subsidiary application of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and the Youths Courts Act (YCA). In 2019, Croatia implemented Directive 2016/800/EU on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings into YCA and introduced new procedural rights for juvenile offenders in criminal proceedings. Croatian legislators began the process of implementing EU legal standards into the Misdemeanour Act but stopped after the implementation of Directive 2010/64 and Directive 2012/13/EU. Directive 2016/800/EU, which refers to the position of juveniles in criminal proceedings, has not been implemented into the Misdemeanour Act. In the first part of the paper, current legislative provisions that refer to juvenile misdemeanour offenders in Croatia are analysed. The second part of the paper gives a theoretical and normative analysis of the position of juvenile offenders through the prism of possible application of Directive 2016/800/EU in misdemeanour proceedings in order to determine whether EU procedural legal standards defined by Directive 2016/800/EU can and to what extent be applied to juveniles in misdemeanour proceedings in Croatia. De lege ferenda proposals regarding the transposition of Directive 2016/800/EU into domestic misdemeanour legislation are given in the conclusion of the paper.
Keywords
juveniles; misdemeanour; misdemeanour proceedings; Youth Courts Act; Directive 2016/800/EU
Hrčak ID:
328679
URI
Publication date:
31.3.2025.
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