Children in criminal proceedings: EC proposal to increase protection makes a decisive step forward
9 Jun 2014 11:53 AM
Justice Ministers from
the Member States have agreed on a general approach (an informal agreement) for
measures that will guarantee special safeguards for children during criminal
court proceedings.
"Making the justice
system in Europe more child-friendly is a priority for the Commission. As the
most vulnerable in society they deserve special protection. I would like to
thank Ministers in the Council and especially my colleague Charalambos
Athanasiou for their committed work on this file which made it possible to
reach such a fast initial agreement," said Vice-President Viviane
Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner. "This is also about
putting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights into law and action as its states
that we must act in the child's best interests. That's exactly what
this directive does: putting children first by guaranteeing better rights for
those who are suspected or accused of a crime."
Judicial systems in Europe are
still not adapted to the vulnerabilities and specific needs of children. Every
year in the EU, roughly 1.086.000 children face criminal justice
proceedings, representing 12% of the total European population facing
criminal justice.
The Commission's proposal
therefore aims to ensure that the highest possible standards are guaranteed for
children:
-
Children must be
assisted by a lawyer. As children might not be in a position to
fully understand the consequences of their actions, they should not be allowed
to waive their right to a lawyer. The mandatory assistance by a lawyer is a
core element of the Commission's proposal and must be
strengthened.
-
Children should be
detained separately from
adults. Specific protection measures should
exist for children who are deprived of their liberty. It is particularly
important to keep detained adults and children apart, to prevent ill-treatment
and abuse.
-
Children should not have
to bear the cost of certain safeguards, even if found guilty. A
child should not have to reimburse the costs of certain procedures e.g.
individual assessment, medical examination or audio-visual recording of
interviews. A differentiated regime for reimbursement could seriously undermine
a child's access to justice by preventing a child, parent or lawyer from
exercising their rights.
Other key
safeguards that children should benefit from include being
swiftly informed of their legal rights, being assisted by parents (or other
appropriate persons), and not being questioned in public hearings. Since the
questioning of a child is potentially risky due to their vulnerability, the
Commission proposes that interviews should be filmed only if necessary, and
especially if the child is deprived of liberty. The directive proposed by the
Commission also sets minimum standards for
detention including access to rehabilitation measures, with an
obligation to take all measures possible to avoid the deprivation of liberty
whenever this is in the best interests of the child.
The Directive will not apply to
Denmark (which has an opt-out) while the UK and Ireland can decide to join
(they have a right to opt-in).
Next
steps: Today's initial agreement in the Justice
Council will pave the way for trilogue discussions between the Council of
Ministers, European Parliament and Commission under the Italian Presidency of
the EU. Following the European elections the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs (LIBE) committee of the European Parliament is due to be reconvened in
July. The first trilogue meeting on this file is expected at the end of
November this year.
Study on children's
involvement in criminal judicial proceedings
Today, the Commission released a
new study on children's involvement in criminal proceedings in the EU. The
2011 EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child (IP/11/156) identified a lack of reliable, comparable and official
data in this area, while in April 2014 the Commission kicked off a public
consultation asking how the EU can best support national child protection
systems (IP/14/392).
The overview of Member
States' systems is composed of an EU summary
report plus country-specific
reports for each EU Member State. The aim is to help share
examples of best practice across Member States and build a basis for
evidence-based policy in the context of child-friendly
justice.
Key findings from the study
include:
Age of criminal
responsibility
-
All Member States have a minimum
age of criminal responsibility – the age below which a child is not
considered to be capable of committing a criminal offence. In the
majority of Member States, the minimum age is 14 or 15
years. Only five jurisdictions have a lower minimum age (IE
– 12, NL – 12, and the UK-England & Wales and UK-Northern
Ireland – 10 and UK-Scotland – 12).
-
The majority of Member Stated
has an upper age limit for juvenile justice. In most
cases this is 17 years of age.
Specialist
courts
-
6 Member States have
specialised units dealing with children within prosecution services1 Nine Member States do
not have specialist courts - all children (suspects/offenders, victims,
witnesses) are tried in ordinary courts with the same judges who adjudicate in
adult cases.
Training for
professionals
-
12 Member States have
mandatory training requirements on the rights and needs of children for
judges2. 11 Member States have
mandatory training for prosecutors3, and 7 Member States mandatory
training for defence lawyers4.
Protection measures during
interviews
-
In nearly all Member States
there are safeguards aimed at protecting
children during interviews and when giving testimony (limitations
to the number of interviews, use of video-recordings, etc.).
-
Adaptations to the physical
environment in which the child is interviewed are more frequent for child
victims and witnesses than for child suspects. Adaptations to
the physical setting in which child
suspects/offenders are interviewed are in place in seven jurisdictions5.
Conditions for children in
pre-trial detention
-
There is a legal obligation to
make pre-trial detention of child suspects a measure of last
resort exists in 22 jurisdictions6. It is not a legal obligation
in 8 jurisdictions7.
Both, the Directive and the
study, are central elements of the EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child. The
Commission is also gathering data on the involvement of children in civil and
administrative justice, for which the results are expected end
2014.
For more
information
Data
and statistics
EU summary report and national contextual
overviews
European Commission Directive on special safeguards for
children suspected or accused of a crime
Child friendly
justice:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/rights-child/friendly-just
ice/index_en.htm
Press pack: procedural
rights:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/criminal/news/131127_en.htm
Homepage of Viviane Reding,
Vice-President of the European Commission and EU Justice Commissioner:http://ec.europa.eu/reding
Follow the Vice-President on
Twitter: @VivianeRedingEU
Follow EU Justice on
Twitter: @EU_Justice
Full
Article