THE PRINCIPLE OF OPPORTUNITY OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION IN PROCEEDINGS AGAINST JUVENILES AND THE DRAFT LAW ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS AND THE PROTECTION OF JUVENILE PERSONS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA (CRIMINAL-POLITICAL JUSTIFICATION OF EXP

Abstract

The issue of the principle of opportunity of criminal prosecution in relation to juvenile offenders is analyzed in the paper from four aspects. The first aspect is a presentation of the normative framework regulating the issue of the principle of opportunism, the criminal-political reasons for its regulation and the necessity of its adequate application in public prosecutorial practice. This is followed by a normative, expert-critical analysis of the norms of the Law on Juvenile Perpetrators of Criminal Offenses and Criminal Legal Protection of Minors that concern all three types of the principle of opportunism in criminal prosecution of juvenile perpetrators of criminal offenses. The third aspect of the subject matter concerns the previous experiences in the application of the principle of opportunism in criminal prosecution of juvenile perpetrators of criminal offenses. Finally, there is the aspect of proposing new solutions for the normative elaboration of all three types of the principle of opportunity for criminal prosecution in the Draft Law on Juvenile Offenders and the Protection of Juveniles in Criminal Proceedings, within which special attention is paid to the issue of the criminal-political (un)justification of the proposed expansion of the scope of application of the principle to juvenile offenders. In addition, there are concluding considerations in which the key results of the expert-critical analysis of the subject matter are summarized and the author's proposals de lege ferenda for improving the normative framework and practical application of the principle of opportunity for criminal prosecution to juvenile offenders.