The Specifics of Children Interrogation

in English, Title and Keywords The Specifics of Children Interrogation Children, meaning people under 18 years of age, appear in criminal procedures rather often and have various process statuses. Therefore, they can get into a situation in which they have to be interrogated. In these cases, they need a different approach than adults. Moreover, they also deserve an extra level of protection. Legislation has taken this into account by specifying how children should be treated during criminal procedures, interrogation included, in numerous details. Amongst these legal provisions, one can find for example the legal provision about necessary protection of minors, about the presence of certain other people during interrogation or the provision regulating the possibility of interrogating children before the prosecution officially begins. Both the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and also the European Court of Human Rights have commented on the possibilities of interrogating children before the prosecution start and then using such obtained protocols, especially on the aspect of preserving the rights of defense. Both have declared that such obtained evidence can be used in criminal proceedings despite the fact that the right to a fair trial has been violated, because there are either other..