Anton Nikolaev: Children's Court

During this year, the State Duma, most likely, will accept the corrections to the law "On the judicial system" (mitigating criminal punishment for children who have violated the law). This was stated yesterday by the adviser to the Constitutional Court Tamara Morshchakova, speaking at the conference "Restorative Justice". “They promised me,” said Morshchakova. True, we are no longer about the fact that all cases in which at least one of the participants is a minor should be considered in a special, so -called juvenile court. It is supposed to be made only an amendment allowing the creation of juvenile courts.

The main humanistic “children's” project of the first period of the Putin presidency is a decrease in the severity of criminal punishments for minor criminals. This is spelled out in the changes in the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which entered into force in the spring of this year. Basically, these amendments are discussed in connection with the adoption of changes to anti -drug articles. However, initially, if you recall the multiple statements of Dmitry Kozak, who accompanied the adoption of presidential amendments, attention was focused on minors.

There is a lot of good things there. According to the current legislation, a person can be imprisoned as soon as he is fourteen years old - this norm has not changed compared to the previous version of the Code for the commission of a particularly serious crime. However, the maximum term for criminals who have not reached sixteen years decreased to six years (it used to be ten). Another important innovation - the lower limit of punishment for minors is reduced to half of the adult term.

For example, under the article “robbery”, if it is perfect in the group, is given from seven and above. Now the judge can give a minor from 3.5 years. In addition, the lower limits for all crimes of lower severity were removed and, most importantly, the possibility of imprisonment for a minor who committed a crime of mild or moderate severity for the first time is excluded. Another important norm that appeared in the Criminal Code is the basis for softening the sentence or the excuse for the acquittal can be the reconciliation of the parties.

This item is very important, because it makes the parties to be advisable for the parties on reconciliation. Such negotiations are called restoration justice and are used in one form or another in a number of Russian courts. However, so far this does not have a clear legal status, as he did not have a legal status of a pilot project for the introduction of an alternative service in Nizhny Novgorod. But about how the restorative justice and children are connected later, so far about the criminal amendments of President Putin.

In fact, mercy is a by -product of amendments. The objective reason is the overload of the penitentiary system. More people are still sitting in prisons than the prison farm can digest. According to human rights activist Lev Levinson, the Ministry of Justice was interested in the adoption of the bill, to whom the entire penitentiary system was transferred during the judicial reform. Putin's amnesty has significantly unloaded the prison, they should be even more unloaded as a result of the adoption of extensions of amendments to criminal law.

However, fighting adolescence by mitigating punishment is only half the case. If a teenager got into a bad company, systematically steals or engages in a gop-stop-he is still in jail, they just should catch him at a time more and will most likely give him a shorter term. The problem of workload was solved - the problem of teenage crime is not. Although there is a recipe - the creation of a system of juvenile justice in the country, that is, a separate branch of the judicial system dedicated to minors.

The purpose of the juvenile justice system is not the punishment of young people, but to conduct individualized education with them. In recent decades, elements of restorative justice have been actively integrated into the system of juvenile justice - negotiations are underway before conducting the trial between the victim and the defendant through mediators, representatives of specialized public organizations. This system, which used itself in many countries, for example, New Zealand, has shown great effectiveness. Firstly, a teenager, communicating in the course of negotiations with the victim, experiences a feeling of shame, which in itself is already a punishment. Secondly, this minimizes contact with the repressive bodies of the state.

In general, the first Juvenile Court was created in 1899 in Illinois, the USA. This innovation quickly spread - in 1931, juvenile courts existed in 30 countries.

According to adviser Tamara Morshchakova, the introduction of elements of recovery justice along with the jury may serve as an increase in the authority of the Russian judicial system.

To create a system of juvenile justice, it is necessary to adopt three bills: amendments to the Constitutional Law “On the Judicial System”, that all cases in which at least one of the participants is a minor should be considered in the Jewish court. Listen to such cases specially prepared judges. This law was adopted in the first reading in April last year, but so far lies under the cloth.

Next, it is necessary to adopt a law on juvenile courts. In one of the options for bills, it is planned to create a system of specialized courts of complex jurisdiction similar to the French system of juvenile justice (the sole magistrates for minors - a collegial court of three professional judges, a court of jury for minors). At the same time, special courts in cases of minors act only as the courts of first instance, the revision of the decisions made by them should be made in the general order by a higher court of general jurisdiction.

And the third stage - the adoption of a law on juvenile justice, which, in particular, would prescribe the interaction of juvenile courts with public organizations to create a system of restoration justice. Restorative justice is not only negotiations between the victims and the victim, but also the rehabilitation of a young criminal: from communication with a psychologist to transfer to a patronage family.

If to create a system of juvenile courts it is enough to allocate funds for new premises and payment of employees, then the inclusion of elements of civil society in the system of juvenile justice is a serious danger to the existing re -education system, for example, specialized closed schools for young children who have committed crimes. Despite the fact that the conditions of detention are not much different there from the colonies, these establishments belong to the Ministry of Education. If children are transferred to patronage families, such colonies can lose customers, and with them state money. Unlike similar institutions of the Ministry of Justice, such institutions are not so overloaded as to get rid of children.

The main problem for the development of juvenile justice is that this remains for the state, as, indeed, for society, a marginal problem. The only ones who are concerned with this problem is NGOs, the most active of which is the “Judicial Law Reform” center and the Foundation “There is no alcoholism and drug addiction”. Although the prospects for the development of juvenile justice remain quite vague, despite the fact that the number of street children on the streets of the city, if it does not increase, it certainly does not decrease, there is still a reason for optimism. During the three -day conference, contrary to an unpleasant trend , law enforcement officers did not beat their fists either by the faces of the participants or the faces of the journalists who were monitored.