Review article
Juvenile justice in Europe and juveniles as active participants in criminal proceedings
Milica Kovačević
; Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju Univerziteta u Beogradu
Abstract
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights guaranties the right to a fair trial, whereas Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes the right of juveniles to receive information on matters affecting them and to freely express their views. In that way, these two international documents establish the right of juveniles to participation, which is very important for the development of the feeling of self-esteem in children and for the recognition of personal dignity of youngsters. However, psychological and physical characteristics of children, their limited capacity to articulate their own views, so as the unwillingness of other participants in the criminal proceedings to acknowledge juvenile’s will, could significantly affect the right of a juvenile to a fair trial and participation. Analysing the said international documents and cases from the European Court of Human Rights’ practice, this paper therefore aims at pointing to the problems which impede active participation of juvenile offenders in criminal proceedings, and also to the ways of overcoming these problems. The author concludes that it is, among others, necessary to educate all official stakeholders within the system of juvenile justice about the special needs and rights of children as subjects with the right to self-determination.
Keywords
minors; criminal procedure; participation
Hrčak ID:
129109
URI
Publication date:
22.10.2014.
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