Amendments to the juvenile criminal law in the framework of the justice system reform in Albania

Abstract

The New Code of Juvenile Criminal Justice is the first of this kind in Albania. Until the moment it was approved, legislative measures regarding juvenile delinquents in conflict with the law, had been imposed basing on the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code for Adults. Approval of the Code of Juvenile Criminal Justice, apart from the rest of legislation, provides high-scale guarantee for this category of population and is in full compliance with international standards. The Code intertwines both material and procedural provisions in its content, in terms of provisions the Code of Juvenile Criminal Justice upholds in order to protect Children in Conflict with the Law alongside those in Contact with the Law as well as to enhance professionalism and accountability of the state criminal justice entities. The Code of Juvenile Criminal Justice provides protection of the best interests of not only children – authors of criminal offences but even of those having the status of witnesses or victims in the criminal procedure.

This writing deals, in a concise yet summarized way, with changes, amendments and novelties the Code of Juveniles Criminal Justice has brought regarding criminal liabilities of juvenile delinquents, the measures fending off their criminal prosecution and punishment, elements of criminal investigation alongside adjudicating and defining various kinds of punishments and the ways they are executed.