Short-Term Prison Sentence in Republic of Srpska’s Criminal Code

Abstract

The appliance of short-term imprisonment penalties is one of the oldest open issues that accompanies imprisonment and one of the oldest problems of criminal law and penology. For one hundred and fifty years, there have been fierce debates about the need of these penalties in criminal law. The new Republic of Srpska’s Criminal Code explicitly stipulates that a short-term prison sentence is up to six months prison sentence. The new Criminal Code completely reformed this penalty by prescribing that it could be applied only exceptionally. The author analyzes the new solution in an attempt to answer the question of whether it is justified in our legislation. Until the new legal solution in our practice, a large part of the prison sentences imposed were short-term prison sentences. The logical question is whether other criminal sanctions and measures are able to satisfactorily fill the rather large gap created by the practically elimination of this penalty.