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Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in Transition

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Crime and Transition in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Parallel to the numerous discussions in connection with adult criminality (especially with respect to organised crime, terrorism, corruption and trafficking) a debate has also been in progress on juvenile delinquency. The changes seen in juvenile delinquency over the recent decades have put transitional countries under enormous pressure. The aim of this chapter is to analyse juvenile delinquency in CEE transition societies from a number of perspectives. It deals with complex social changes which have affected CEE countries and left their trace on juvenile delinquency—in its causes, consequences and trends. These questions are discussed with particular reference to the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina and compared with trends in other transitional countries included in this book. Another purpose of this chapter is to discuss developments in juvenile justice in dealing with juvenile delinquents. This chapter touches on various aspects of juvenile justice and outlines its ongoing development in transitional countries and especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    With respect to a number of changes in extreme cases of juvenile delinquency in recent decades, two processes are particularly perceptible and cause for concern: on one hand, there is the fact that there is nothing new about serious juvenile crime. Juveniles (often “junior juveniles” and even children) do and have always committed extremely serious criminal offences (e.g. cruel murders). Yet on the other hand, it is equally undeniable that such violent juvenile offences are and have been expanding in scope and in intensity. Insofar as broader elements and trends are concerned, juvenile delinquency still stubbornly conforms to patterns that emerged in the second-half of the last century (Šelih 2000, pp. 221–224).

  2. 2.

    In 1990 the number of reported juvenile perpetrators of criminal offences stood at around 1,400 and in 1991 at 1,100. For more details see Cajner Mraović and Stamatel 2000, pp. 514–517.

  3. 3.

    The number of juvenile delinquents more than doubled between 1984 and 1994. Namely, the juvenile delinquency rate per 10,000 of the population for the age group 13–16 was 58.6% in 1984 and 78.7% in 1993. See Asquith (1998), p. 39.

  4. 4.

    The political and economic changes in transition countries gave rise to difficulties for the majority of the population, especially for children and young people. For details see the other chapters in this book.

  5. 5.

    For example, the percentage comprising juvenile delinquency in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the total number of recorded offences over the past decade ranges from 8 to 12%. The percentage of overall national crime made up by juvenile delinquency in the other countries discussed here are as follows: Croatia—10.5, Czech Republic—7.2, Hungary—12, Poland—9.1, Slovenia—7.4. Statistics for Serbia are not available. For details see European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics 2010.

  6. 6.

    Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, and one district, the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the population is estimated at 3.85 million. The population of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is estimated as being 2.32 million, and that of the Republic of Srpska as 1.43 million. The population of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina is roughly 0.1 million.

  7. 7.

    Some sources indicate that these statistics also include minors under the age of 14 who cannot be held criminally liable. Therefore, the exact extent of the increase over the whole period is uncertain. For details see the Assessment of juvenile justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2011), p. 5.

  8. 8.

    See note 7.

  9. 9.

    Indicators in the entity of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entity of Republic of Srpska gives a number of about 10% of juvenile offenders becoming recidivists. Cited from: Strategija protiv maloljteničkog prestupništva u Bosni i Hercegovini (2006, p. 5).

  10. 10.

    The statistics covering all of Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that most juvenile crimes are committed by young persons aged between 14 and 17. A trend of younger and younger children coming into conflict with the law has also been observed. See Delinkventno ponašanje: empirijska studija (2008, p. 298).

  11. 11.

    See also: Strategija protiv maloljteničkog prestupništva u Bosni i Hercegovini (2006, p. 5).

  12. 12.

    This does not mean that juveniles do not commit such offences. On the contrary, sometimes the form such rare offences take is more concerning than the question of frequency. See, Enforcement of alternative measures for juveniles: legal, institutional and practical issues 2010, p. 27, and Delinkventno ponašanje: empirijska studija (2008, p. 194) and etc.

  13. 13.

    Or “educational recommendations” as an alternative for the treatment of juveniles who commit less serious offences. Educational recommendations were introduced in the entity of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998, and in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2000.

  14. 14.

    In this stage educational recommendations were introduced into the criminal legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entity of the Republic of Srpska.

  15. 15.

    The draft resulted from a research project on young people In conflict with law in The Light of Topical Problems Concerning Juvenile Criminal Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002–2003). The project was implemented under the auspices of the Open Society Fund for Bosnia and Herzegovina and UNICEF. This first draft was never entered into the parliamentary procedure for adopting legislation.

  16. 16.

    “Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske”, no. 13/2010.

  17. 17.

    The Law enters into force on the eighth day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 202).

  18. 18.

    The interviewed prosecutors and judges for juveniles most often cited the following reason for this: the legislator did not specify the sufficient detail in the procedure for implementing correctional recommendations as an alternative method of addressing juvenile delinquency, serious criminal offences that do not carry the possibility of imposing educational recommendations occur more often in reality than is thought (Maljević 2006, pp. 432–433), educational recommendations are not applied more frequently because juveniles do not show a willingness to be reconciled with the victim (Enforcement of alternative measures for juveniles: legal, institutional and practical issues 2010, p. 61), the lack of specialisation in judges, prosecutors and social workers and the lack of financial and human resources (Muratbegović 2011, pp. 67–68).

  19. 19.

    See: Mladi u sukobu sa zakonom u svjetlu aktuelnih problema maloljetničkog krivičnog pravosuđa u Bosni i Hercegovini (2002, pp. 22–25). The studies continuously performed and completed since 2001 to date, focussing on juvenile delinquency, have also shown that educational recommendations are not imposed on juvenile offenders. See, e.g.: Gurda (2009, pp. 137–138); Enforcement of alternative measures for juveniles: legal, institutional and practical issues (2010, pp. 59–63); Muratbegović (2011, pp. 62–63 and 67–71).

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  1. Law Faculty, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Hajrija Sijerčić-Čolić

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Correspondence to Hajrija Sijerčić-Čolić .

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  1. , Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Alenka Šelih

  2. University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Aleš Završnik

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Sijerčić-Čolić, H. (2012). Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in Transition. In: Šelih, A., Završnik, A. (eds) Crime and Transition in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3517-4_9

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