Representation of juveniles in the structure of the perpetrators of property crime

Abstract

Property rights are the values protected by all societies to the highest legal standards of their alienation, danger or damage. Even from ancient times violations against the property are present in all societies and are therefore considered as classic crime. One of the characteristics is their mass performance given that both adult and juvenile perpetrators participate in these offenses with the highest share in total registered crime. For a proper assessment of the share of the minors in the execution of these actions, it is necessary to determine the status and trends of this kind of juvenile crime, so that the bodies in charge of the formal social control could use the obtained data in combating crime. For this purpose, we will use the official data of the National Bureau of Statistics. Studies of the situations and trends in juvenile property crime are also significant from the criminological aspect, bearing in mind that by performing these actions, some juveniles start their criminal career, thereby presenting a greater threat to society. Property crimes committed by juveniles have special phenomenological characteristics that give them certain specificity in relation to adult crimes. This paper presents the phenomenological characteristics of juvenile property crime in Serbia in the period from 2004 to 2013, as well as the response of the criminal justice system to this type of offense.