Young Adults and Long Term Imprisonment: Quo Vadis Croatian Juvenile Criminal Legislation?

Firstly in this article a brief overview is given of the development of the legal position of the category of young adults in Croatian criminal legislation since its introduction in 1959 till the passing of the Youth Courts Act in 1997. The author criticises the introduction of the punishment of long term imprisonment for younger adults with the amendment to the Criminal Code in 2006. On the basis of the analysis of the mutual relation between the Criminal Code and the Youth Courts Act, (this relation is in an identical way determined in art. 11 of the Criminal Code (KZ) and art. 3 of the Youth Courts Act (ZSM)), the author concludes that the provisions of the Youth Courts Act are primary and the provisions of the Criminal Code are subsidiary regulation. Therefore, the author believes that was no legal basis in art. 53 section 5 Criminal Code (KZ) to prescribe young adults a punishment of long term imprisonment. Rather, the solution to that question should be left to the Youth Courts Act