THE PRINCIPLE OF OPPORTUNITY IN JUVENILE CRIMINAL LEGISLATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

Abstract

In the criminal law and judicial system of modern states, children have a special position and treatment. It is primarily the result of the general development of society, but also the implementation of recommendations contained in international documents. This is done to avoid the negative consequences that formal criminal proceedings have on the formation of the child's personality. This is achieved by introducing alternative sanctions and informal forms of treatment of minors. The phrase child in conflict with the law, which we use in this paper, appears in modern juvenile criminal law, and is also accepted by our juvenile criminal legislation. The subject of this paper is the application of the principle of opportunity of criminal prosecution in proceedings against minors. The application of this principle to minors in our criminal procedural legislation has a long tradition, which is also reflected in the provisions of the current juvenile criminal legislation. The practical application of this principle is most important in the preparatory procedure and during the execution of the sentence and educational measure. Systematic treatment of this matter requires specifying the basic characteristics and advantages of alternative forms of treatment of juvenile offenders (children in conflict with the law) with reference to the most important international documents and individual foreign legal solutions. Systematically treating this issue, the author in the paper lists the basic characteristics and advantages of applying the principle of opportunism, referring to international provisions and comparative legislation.