Abstract
The predicament of juvenile delinquency for most nations, including that of the Balkan region at large, has been something of an enigma ever since juvenile justice legislation was first introduced. In recent years, juvenile delinquency in the Balkans has not only been increasing but its gravity has also trended upward and added to the burden of a strained juvenile justice system. This article presents an alternative option to the formal juvenile justice system which is designed to empower youth, which builds community capacity and youth resiliency, and is reintegrative and restorative in nature. An overview of the peer court model is presented and described within a possible Balkan context. Various evidence is discussed as to its relative success in other regions of the world. The paper concludes with several observations as to why the peer court model could/should be adopted by the countries in the Balkans along with several pragmatic and practical considerations around the implementation and administration of the model.
Highlights
Juvenile delinquency has represented something of an enigma to criminal justice systems around the world.[3]
Despite the plethora of initiatives and resources directed towards combatting the plight of juvenile delinquency and the voluminous body of related research, the plight of juvenile crime/delinquency continues to be the bane of most jurisdictions.[4]
What began as a ‘Global Goal’ by the American Social Entrepreneur Scott Peterson in 1993, peer court volunteer-driven youth justice diversion programs, referred to as youth/teen/student court and peer jury, have mushroomed from 78 programs in 1994 to over 1,700 communities around the world on four continents (i.e. North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia) as of 2017, with no signs of this local volunteer-driven approach to Youth Justice and Juvenile Justice slowing down anytime soon
Summary
Juvenile delinquency has represented something of an enigma to criminal justice systems around the world.[3]. ON: Oxford University Press [4] NBP Žurnal za kriminalistiku i pravo strategically direct resources to support innovative programming where it can be most effective Another issue that confronts the Balkans, and many other jurisdictions, is the fact that legislatures are responding to the increased societal demand for a wider variety of juvenile offenders to experience more punitively-oriented judicial sanctioning (as opposed to the primarily rehabilitative approaches practiced in recent years) by enacting laws that provide for such and which curtail police discretion at arrest.[20] And it was not possible to locate many comprehensive studies on juvenile justice systems in the Balkans, it is generally acknowledged that the legacy of the 1990 war, post-Soviet influence, and prevailing cultural values throughout the region that in the absence of increased resources for police, the courts, and formal response mechanisms, these tactics further increase the caseloads of the courts, and burden the juvenile justice system in general.[21] the “systemic neglect” is perpetuated by legislation which is largely ineffectual and inefficient. In addition to providing an overview of the peer court model, this article attempts to place the model within the context of Balkan’s juvenile justice system
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