Protection of the rights of juveniles interrogated by the police : comparative legal aspects and results of empirical research

In recent years a growing interest in issues related to the protection of rights and safeguards of ‘children in conflict with the law’ can be observed at the international level. In the light of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Council of Europe Guidelines on child-friendly justice, in cases concerning children in conflict with the law, an important element of the system of justice is to provide them with a fair trial in which their rights and safeguards are not minimised or denied under the pretext of the child’s best interest. The European Union is currently working on a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings. The aim of these works is to set common minimum standards throughout the European Union on the rights of children who are suspected or accused in criminal proceedings and children subject to European arrest warrant proceedings. One of the problems discussed in the course of works on the proposal for the directive is the issue of defining the scope of its application regardless of whether the proceedings in the cases of children in conflict with the law are treated as ‘criminal proceedings’ under the national law. During the period of work on the proposal, the European Commission funded an international research project focused on the protection of the rights of interrogated juveniles. The project entitled ‘Protecting Young Suspects in Interrogations: a study on safeguards and best practice’ was coordinated by the University of Maastricht. It aimed at comparing juvenile justice systems in five countries (England and Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy), with particular emphasis on the rights and safeguards provided to juveniles suspected of breaking criminal law during their first interrogation connected with the alleged offence. Comparative legal analysis of juvenile justice systems in the participating countries revealed that, as opposed to Poland, in all other countries the procedure applied in juvenile cases was principally the criminal procedure. Moreover, unlike in Poland, it was commonly accepted that in the cases concerning children in conflict with the law, respecting the child’s best interest did not mean depriving them of the rights and safeguards granted to adults in criminal proceedings. In Poland, the proceedings in the cases concerning children in conflict with the law who are accused of displaying signs of demoralisation or committing a punishable act are regulated in a complicated and unclear way. Legislators assume combining the procedural provisions included in the Juvenile Act, the provisions of civil procedure and, to a limited extent, the provisions of criminal procedure. Contrary to legislative assumptions, the first interrogation of a juvenile suspected of punishable acts is most often conducted by the police before the institution of juvenile proceedings via the family court. Although this first interrogation is often decisive in the further course of proceedings, the Juvenile Act does not contain detailed regulations in this regard and only briefly refers to the appropriate application of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Empirical research carried out in Poland as part of the project involved individual interviews with lawyers and focus group interviews with both police officers and juveniles. The results of the research indicate that from the perspective of providing juveniles with procedural rights and safeguards, current regulations are far from satisfactory. Because of the limited scope of the conducted research, it is difficult to draw generalised conclusions. However, the results undoubtedly allow the conclusion that the issues regarding providing juveniles interrogated by the police with procedural rights and safeguards ensured in international documents deserve much more attention than has been paid so far. The results of the conducted empirical research constitute another argument for the need of an in-depth discussion on the necessary systemic changes in the Polish juvenile system of justice which is also supported by the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases Adamkiewicz v. Poland and Grabowski v. Poland