Peculiarities of criminal proceedings against minors

U hrvatskom zakonodavstvu, prema maloljetnim počiniteljima kaznenih djela, vodi se posebni kazneni postupak koji je uređen odredbama Zakona o sudovima za mladež i Zakonom o kaznenom postupku. U ovom radu zato se bavimo karakteristikama i posebitostima vođenja takvog postupka. Razlog vođenja takvog posebnog postupka je pokušaj utjecaja na odgoj maloljetnika kako bismo spriječili činjenje kaznenih djela u budućnosti. Iz razloga što su počinitelji kaznenih djela u vrijeme počinjenja bili maloljetni, njima su zajamčena dodatna procesna prava kao što je pravo na informaciju, pravo na branitelja, pravo na pojedinačnu ocjenu, pravo na pratnju roditelja, pravo na privatnost te ostala prava. Postupak prema maloljetnicima provode specijalizirana tijela, a to su sudovi za mladež, državni odvjetnici za mladež, a vrlo važnu ulogu ima i centar za socijalnu skrb. Kazneni postupak se provodi sukladno načelima tajnosti i hitnosti postupka uz primjenu načela svrhovitosti. U maloljetničkom kaznenom postupka ovlašteni tužitelj uvijek i bez iznimke je državni odvjetnik. Stadije provođenje postupka podijeli smo na pripremni postupak, podnošenje prijedloga za izricanje maloljetničke sankcije, postupak pred vijećem za mladež i žalbeni postupak.In Croatian legislation, juvenile perpetrators of criminal offenses are subject to special criminal proceedings, which are governed by the provisions of the Law on Juvenile Courts and the Law on Criminal Procedure. In this paper, therefore we deal with the characteristics and particularities of conducting such a procedure. The reason for conducting such a special procedure is to try to influence the upbringing of minors in order to prevent the commission of criminal offenses in the future. Due to the fact that the perpetrators of criminal offenses were minors at the time of their commission, they are guaranteed special procedural rights such as the right to information, the right to a attorney, the right to an individual assessment, the right to be accompanied by parents, the right to privacy and other rights. Procedures against minors are carried out by specialized bodies, which are juvenile courts, state attorneys for juveniles, and the role of the center for social welfare is very important as well. The criminal procedure is carried out in accordance with the principles of secrecy and urgency of the procedure, with the application of the principle of expediency. In juvenile criminal proceedings, the authorized prosecutor is always and without exception the state attorney. We have divided the stages of the procedure into the preparatory procedure, the submission of a proposal for the imposition of a juvenile sanction, the procedure before the youth council and the appeal procedure