Police restorative approach in the juvenile justice system

Abstract

Restorative justice is a new, different response to crime, response that offers and tries to establish justice again. Not going into aims, impact and basic principles of restorative justice, as well as into substance of different restorative practices, in this article we will concentrate on restorative interventions that lead to avoidance of the formal justice system. Concretely, we will analyze the role of the police in applying restorative interventions in the juvenile justice system. Particular emphasis will be put on the meaning and the aim of diversion procedures towards juvenile offenders that have committed minor offences and more serious ones for which they come in conflict with the law. In the foreign expert literature the concept of restorative policing is recognized (restorative approach in police conduct), as an attempt to introduce a new reform in performing police affairs. This subject should be approached very carefully and fundamentally, if we want consistent implementation of the new tendency and practices in the juvenile justice systems in accordance with the international standards.