| Abstract: | Vienas iš svarbiausių Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamosios justicijos plėtros uždavinių yra užtikrinti baudžiamajame procese dalyvaujantiems nepilnamečiams jų teises ir interesus, apsaugoti juos nuo antrinio traumuojančio poveikio, ir žinoma ginti jų teises nepažeidžiant baudžiamojo proceso nuostatų. Nepilnamečiams skiriamas ypatingas dėmesys užtikrinant jų teisę į teisingą teismą, interesų apsaugą bei numatoma daugiau garantijų baudžiamajame procese ir siekiama, kad būtų išsaugotos jų galimybės vystytis ir vėl integruotis į visuomenę.
Kad geriausiai užtikrinti nepilnamečių atstovavimo ir gynybos būdus baudžiamajame procese, būtina suvokti nepilnamečių interesus. Svarbiausios vaiko teisių apsaugos baudžiamajame procese problemos yra gynybos ir atstovavimo užtikrinimas, bei apklausų sistema. Garantuojant nepilnamečių teises baudžiamajame procese, būtina teisės normomis užtikrinti, kad procesas vyktų sąžiningai, būtų gerbiamos, ginamos ir užtikrinamos nepilnamečių teisės ir saugumas. Todėl šio tiriamojo darbo objektas yra nepilnamečių interesai bei jų teisės dalyvaujant baudžiamajame procese.
Kad būtų atsakytą į iškeltą klausimą darbe, buvo analizuojami nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys nepilnamečių ypatumus baudžiamajame procese, taip pat teismų praktika ir mokslinė literatūra.
Išanalizavus temos problematiką, pasitvirtino darbo pradžioje iškelta hipotezė, jog šiuo metu Baudžiamojo proceso kodekse numatytas nepilnamečių atstovavimas ir gynyba užtikrina nepilnamečių teisę į teisingą teismą.
Darbe nustatyta, kad įstatymų leidėjas tinkamai atskleidė nepilnamečio sąvoką, nepilnamečio apklausos sistema ikiteisminio tyrimo metu ir teisminio nagrinėjimo metu yra sureguliuota tinkamai, šių procesų metu atkreipiamas ypatingas dėmesys į nepilnamečių interesų apsaugą, į galimą jam neigiamą poveikį iš kitų proceso dalyvių, taip pat šių procesų metu yra užtikrinamas atstovų, bei specialistų dalyvavimas. Vaikų apklausos visais atvejais yra vykdomos vaikų apklausoms pritaikytose patalpose ir svarbiausia praktikoje pradėta laikytis nuostatos, kad, kaip nepilnametis būtų apklausiamas ne daugiau kaip vieną kartą, nes daugkartinė apklausa gali sukelti nepilnamečiui psichologinį stresą, sukelti emocinę traumą.
Apibendrinant darytina išvada, kad šis darbas yra aktualus, pateikiamos išvados įrodo, kad su LR Baudžiamojo proceso kodekso pakeitimais patobulėjo nepilnamečių teisių užtikrinimas, labiau ginami jų interesai, efektyviau siekiama sumažinti neigiamą poveikį vaikui baudžiamojo proceso metu.
One of the most important tasks of the Republic of Lithuania in the development of criminal justice is to ensure the rights and interests of minors who are involved in criminal proceedings, to protect them from secondary traumatic effects, and of course to protect their rights without prejudice to the provisions of criminal proceedings. Special attention is paid to minors in ensuring their right to a fair trial, the protection of their interests and more guarantees in criminal proceedings, in order to preserve their ability to develop and reintegrate into society.
In order to ensure the best way of representing and defending minors in criminal proceedings, it is necessary to understand their interests. The most important issues in protecting the rights of the child in criminal proceedings are the defense and representation, and the system of interviews. When guaranteeing the rights of minors in criminal proceedings, it is necessary to ensure by law that the process shall be fair, the rights of minors shall be respected and protected, and safety shall be guaranteed, too. Therefore, the subject of this research work is the interests of minors and their rights in criminal proceedings.
In order to answer the question raised in the final thesis, national and international legal acts regulating the peculiarities of minors in criminal proceedings, as well as case law and scientific literature were analyzed.
After analyzing the relevance of the topic, the hypothesis that the representation and protection of minors currently provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure and ensuring the right of minors to a fair trial, has been confirmed.
Research tasks:
1. To define the concept of a minor.
2. To analyze the protection of rights for minors in criminal proceedings.
3. To examine the survey system, which is applied for minors at the time of criminal proceedings.
4. To establish the protection of rights and legitimate interests of minors in criminal proceedings.
Research methods: In order to ascertain whether the minors' right to a fair trial is currently guaranteed by juvenile representation and defense as provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure, the following theoretical and empirical methods will be used:
1. A comparative approach which is used to compare national and international legislation.
2. On the basis of the linguistic method, a conception of a minor is being analyzed.
3. A method of document analysis shall be used to analyze the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), cassation rulings of the Supreme Court of Lithuania (SCL), moreover, this method will help to analyze legal sources and scientific articles of Lithuania and other states.
4. A method of summarizing, which will lead to the final conclusions of the thesis.
The first chapter deals with the concept of a minor in criminal proceedings. Following the analysis of international and national legislation on the concept of minors, the conclusion can be drawn that in the legislation one of the main criteria for the person to be subject to legal regulation is the age limit, ie for persons under 18 years of age.
The age limit established in the laws of the Republic of Lithuania is in line with the threshold of minors established in international and European Union legislation. Therefore, it must be concluded that age and social criteria are the two determining factors that characterize the concept of a minor.
The second chapter analyzes the requirements in criminal proceedings involving minors. In this section, the protection of rights for minors in criminal proceedings was analyzed. It has been determined that, in order to fully guarantee the rights of minors before appointing a representative in accordance with the law, it is necessary to make sure that he/she will not have a negative impact on him. The appointment of a legal representative guarantees effective assistance to a minor not only during the judicial process but also before the criminal proceedings begin. It has also been established that a guaranteed legal aid is one of the essential tools for the implementation of justice for those persons who due to their age or social status, are unable to solve their legal problem.
The third chapter aims to investigate a system of surveys for minors in criminal proceedings. The study revealed that a survey system for minors is properly regulated during the pre-trial investigation and at the time of trial. During these processes, special attention is paid to the protection of the interests of minors and the possible negative impact from other participants of the process. Moreover, these processes involve the participation of representatives and specialists. Participation of a specialist in the survey helps to ensure the rights of minors more effectively in criminal proceedings. The help of psychologists while questioning minors allows the minor to be properly interviewed, taking into account his/her social and psychological maturity, helps to obtain objective data on the criminal offense and thus ensures not only the quality of the pre-trial investigation, but also the least negative impact of the criminal proceedings on the child.
Chapter four seeks to establish the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of minors in criminal proceedings. After examining the protection of the rights and legal interests of minors in criminal proceedings, it must be concluded that assurance of the minor's interests in criminal proceedings is well regulated. However, it should be noted, that the amendments to the CPC have further strengthened the system of interviews of minors, which better guarantees the rights of minors. Practice shows that the state is striving to assure the rights of minors more effectively, and efforts are being made to minimize the violation of the rights of minors while participating in criminal proceedings.
It has been established in the thesis that the legislator properly disclosed the concept of a minor, a minor child‘s survey system during the pre-trial investigation and during the trial is properly regulated, moreover, during these processes special attention is paid to the protection of the interests of minors, as well as possible negative impact from other participants of the process. Furthermore, at the time of these processes participation of representatives and professionals is ensured. Child surveys are always carried out in the rooms which are adapted for child interviews. The most important factor shall be mentioned that it was decided to comply to the provision that a minor shall be interviewed no more than once because multiple interviews can lead to a psychological stress and cause emotional trauma.
To sum up, the conclusion can be drawn that this final thesis is relevant, the conclusions presented reveal that the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania have improved the protection of the rights of minors, their interests are more protected, and the aim is to reduce the negative impact on the child during criminal proceedings. |
