engleski

Application and efficiency of out-of court settlement in procedures for youth in conflict with the law

The content of this paper is aimed at presenting a special obligation of an out-of court settlement in Croatia. The aim is to explain in more detail way the characteristics, application, and course of the out-of-court settlement itself and it’s effectiveness. The out-of-court settlement is an alternative to the formal court process and is applied in proceedings for young people in conflict with the law. The State Attorney’s Office decides whether to go into the out-of-court settlement process at all if there are assumptions for imposing it. An out-of-court settlement is a short-term intervention in which, with the help of a mediator, the suspect and the victim jointly come to an agreement that is appropriate for both sides. Whether an out-of- court settlement fulfills its purpose and how effective it really is, the results of the evaluations so far are the best answer. They show that the entire process was successfully completed in over 80% of cases, which means that full compensation or repair of the damage caused by the crime was made. While the most common duration of a successful out-of-court settlement is 1 to 3 months (65%). Because of these results, we can see the success of the out-of-court settlement, which, as an alternative, gives young people in conflict with the law the opportunity to deal with their own mistakes and their consequences. Also, this is the most effective way to develop the prosocial behavior of young people.

out-of-court settlement, youth in conflict with the Law, implementation, efficiency

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