IDENTITY BETWEEN PROPOSALS TO IMPOSE A CRIMINAL SANCTION ON A MINOR AND COURT DECISIONS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MINORS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Abstract

In the paper, the author discusses the important criminal procedure institute of the identity of the verdict and the accusation, that is, the proposal to impose a criminal sanction on a minor and the court's decisions in criminal proceedings against minors. In the introductory discussions, a brief overview of the specifics of criminal proceedings against minors is given and the different regulation of the issue under consideration in regular criminal proceedings and proceedings against minors is pointed out. Then, the identity of the verdict and the accusation in the general criminal procedure is discussed, and then in minors criminal proceedings, with a focus on the relationship with the concept of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The procedural forms of decision-making in minors criminal proceedings that are manifested through the panel session and the main hearing are analyzed, in order to find an answer to the question of whether deviation from the factual identity of the act can also occur in the panel session, and not only at the main hearing. The author's opinion is that under certain circumstances and in a panel session, the panel for minors may deviate from the factual identity of the act. The author concludes that this legal solution unjustifiably places minors in a worse position than adult perpetrators of criminal acts and that in future amendments to the law or in a new law, this solution should be likened to the solution in general criminal procedure. In the event that such legal regulation is retained, as another specific feature of minors criminal proceedings, the author believes that this institute should be uniformly regulated and explicitly prescribed that it can also be applied in a panel session.