ADVANCED LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN INCONFLICT WITH THE LAW AND PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS FOR CHILDREN

Abstract

With the adoption of the new Law on Justice for Children (LJC) in 2024, the Macedonian
legislation regarding children has been fully aligned with the relevant EU directives in terms of
strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at
the trial in criminal proceedings, in terms of procedural safeguards for children who are suspects
or accused in criminal proceedings, the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and the
right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty as well as in terms of establishing
minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime. Within the
framework of the basic principles, the LJC defined for the first time the principle of the best
interests of the child, both in terms of its meaning in material terms and in terms of its priority in
the interpretation of the provisions of the LJC. When taking about the right of the child there is an
obligation the child to be informed about his/her rights, but also the obligation to be given the
rights in writing (bill of rights), expanded application of the principle of expediency, except for
serious crimes committed, broader scope of the term "child victim" by including indirect victims
as well as a child victim when it comes to a child who promotes, accepts, supports, justifies,
advocates and participates in acts of radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism, severe forms
of violence, mass migration movements, xenophobia and other severe forms of extremism. New
2024 LJC became a procedural law because for the first time, it prescribed the court's actions in
the case of a child in conflict with the law, instead of the previous solution that referred to the
Code of Criminal Procedure without taking into account the specifics of the treatment of children
in conflict with the law. Regarding institutions for execution of educational measures for children
and child imprisonment, there are accurate solutions in the Law on execution of sanctions, but
there are also amendments which tend to advance and improve the entire process of execution of
educational measures. Improvement is related to efforts for providing education, health care,
programs for preventing violence, preventing re-offending and restorative approaches as well as
raising capacities of staff within institutions for children