Vizura hrvatskog maloljetničkog kaznenog prava pri odlučivanju o maloljetničkom zatvoru i njegovu pridržaju – postoje li kriteriji ili je sve diskrecijska odluka suda

Juvenile courts throughout Croatia impose sanctions on juvenile offenders (juveniles). Their decision-making often raises issues of their discretion in deciding on the application of juvenile sanctions, especially juvenile incarceration and its suspension (Reservation of the Right to Impose the Sentence of Juvenile Incarceration), which can be a significant issue in terms of the uniformity of the juvenile case law. Therefore, the research sought to examine whether there are certain formal criteria for distinguishing the application of juvenile incarceration from its suspension (Reservation of the Right to Impose the Sentence of Juvenile Incarceration), or if there are criteria that judges use when deciding when and in which cases to apply juvenile imprisonment, and when its suspension. Consequently, the following Hypothesis is set: There are criteria for distinguishing the application of juvenile incarceration from the suspension of sentence of juvenile incarceration (Reservation of the Right to Impose the Sentence of Juvenile Incarceration). Normative - descriptive, qualitative and descriptive analyses were used to test the hypothesis in the research.