Criminal liability and criminal procedure for juvenile offenders - comparative to USA

Mladoletniki so kot vitalni del naše družbe neločljivo povezani tudi s kazenskim pravom. Že od nekdaj so ljudje verjeli, da mladoletni storilci kaznivih dejanj ne morejo biti obravnavani enako kakor polnoletni storilci. Skozi zgodovinski razvoj se je njihova kazenskopravna obravnava bolj ali manj enačila s polnoletnimi osebami, a je na koncu 20. stoletja vpliv preostalih znanosti, ki se ukvarjajo s človekom, le pomembno vplival, da se je ta veja kazenskega prava dokončno odcepila in zaživela svoje življenje. Še posebej velik vpliv na to je imel razvoj otroške psihologije, kjer je predmet preučevanja mladoletnikova osebnost. Posebne obravnave mladoletnih storilcev ne terjajo le razlogi moralnosti in pravičnosti, ampak tudi razlog posebnih fizioloških in psiholoških značilnosti mladoletnikov. V pričujočem magistrskem delu sem preučila slovensko in ameriško pozitivno kazenskopravno ureditev mladoletniškega kazenskega prava in ju medsebojno primerjala. Tako sem izluščila pomanjkljivosti in prednosti vsakega izmed pravnih sistemov in bralca opozorila na razlike in razhajanja med njima. Osredotočila sem se na tri sklope mladoletniškega kazenskega prava, ki sem jih skozi celotno delo smiselno in logično predstavila bralcu. In sicer sem v prvem poglavju bralca teoretično uvedla v predmet raziskave predmetnega magistrskega dela, predstavila sem mu uporabljene metode raziskovanja ter zastavljene cilje in hipoteze. V drugem poglavju sem obravnavala sam pojem mladoletniškega kazenskega prava, kjer sem bralcu med drugim predstavila temeljne značilnosti in karakteristike, da lahko razume koncept mladoletniškega kazenskega prava, njegov namen in normativno ureditev v pravnem sistemu. Nato sem bralca popeljala še skozi zgodovinski razvoj mladoletniškega kazenskega prava na kontinentu in v anglosaksonskem pravnem redu in mu predstavila modele kazenskega mladoletniškega prava, ki so se izoblikovali. Bralcu sem konkretneje predstavila razvoj mladoletniškega kazenskega prava v Sloveniji. V tretjem poglavju, ki nosi naslov Kazenska odgovornost, sem bralca sprva seznanila s samim pojmom kazenske odgovornosti na sploh in sem ga šele nato uvedla v pojem kazenske odgovornosti v luči mladoletniškega prestopništva, saj pojma ne nosita popolnoma enake vsebine. V tem poglavju sem se osredotočila na pomen starostnih mej in določitev le-teh. Najprej sem bralca spoznala s slovensko pravno ureditvijo, nato še z bolj strogo in kaznovalno usmerjeno ameriško pravno ureditvijo in specifikami, ki jih poznajo. Naslednje poglavje nosi naslov Kazenski postopek, kjer se bralec podrobneje seznani s posebnostim kazenskega postopka proti mladoletnim storilcem napram rednemu kazenskemu postopku in fazami le-tega. Predstavljene so možnosti za neformalen kazenski pregon, ki ga pozna slovenska kazenska zakonodaja. Primerjalno-pravno je prikazan še ameriški pravni sistem, njegove posebnosti in faze kazenskega postopka proti mladoletnikom. Magistrsko delo sem zaključila s poglavjem, v katerem sem bralcu predstavila nekatere sodne odločbe Vrhovnega sodišča ZDA, ki so korenito vplivale na mladoletniško kazensko pravo in varovanje mladoletnikov kot družbene skupine, ki ni popolnoma zrela in ima določene pomanjkljivosti na področjih razmišljanja, presojanja in nadzora svojih impulzov.Minors, as a vital part of our society, are inextricably linked to criminal law. People have always believed that juvenile offenders can not be treated in the same manner as adult criminals. Through out the time the historical development of juvenile justice juveniles were more or less equated with adult perpetrators. At the end of the 20th century the influence of the sciences that are studying human beings grew so important and significant that that this presented branch of criminal law, finally severed and was brought to life. The development of was a particularly big part of that, since the subject of the child psychology studes are the minor\u27s personality. The special treatment of juvenile offenders requires not only the reasons of morality and justice, but also the reason of the special physiological and psychological characteristics of minors. In this master\u27s thesis, I examined the Slovene and American criminal justice system of juvenile criminal law (juvenile justice) and compared them reciprocally. Thus, I have identified the shortcomings and the advantages of each of the legal systems and I pointed them out for he the reader. I concentrated on three parts of juvenile criminal law, which I have presented reasonably and logically to the reader throughout the thesis. Namely, in the first chapter I theoretically introduced the subject of study of this thesis to the rader and I presented the reader with the used methods of research. In the second chapter, I dealt with the very notion of juvenile criminal law itself. Thus, I presented to the reader the basic characteristics so that the reader would be able to gain an understanding of the concept of juvenile criminal law, its purpose and normative arrangements in the legal system. Then I guided the reader through the historical evolution of juvenile criminal law on the continent and in the Anglo-Saxon legal system. I also explained more precisely the development of juvenile criminal law in Slovenia to the reader. In the third chapter, which is titled criminal liability, I first aquinted the reader with the concept of criminal responsibility in general and then I got the reader aquinted with the concept of criminal liability in the light of juvenile delinquency, because the mentioned concepts do not carry exactly the same content. I focused on the importance of setting age limits and their identification. Secondly, I presented the reader with the Slovenian legal system, and then I introduced the reader with a more rigorous and punitive-oriented American legal system. The next chapter is titled Criminal Procedure. In this chapter the reader gets more familiar with the specificities of the criminal procedure against juvenile offenders, in opposition to the regular criminal procedure for adult criminals, and phases of the criminal proceedings. Informal criminal prosecution, known by Slovenian criminal law, are presented to the reader. The reader is also comparatively aquinted with procedures of the US legal system, and its particularities and stages of criminal proceedings against minors. I completed my master\u27s thesis with a chapter in which I presented to the reader some of the US Supreme Court rulings that had a profound impact on juvenile criminal law and the protection of minors as a social group that is not completely mature and has certain disabilities in the areas of thinking, judging and controlling their pulses