Participation of Social Organizations in Juvenile Proceedings – Theoretical Foundations and Practice

Abstract

Juvenile law is a rather young branch of law. It was singled out just at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the very beginning, the juvenile law regulations could be distinguished into two dominant models: protective and restrictive. However, both of them did not fulfil the expectations and faced a wave of criticism. One of the consequences of this situation was the appearance of the “third road” of reaction to juvenile crimes – restorative justice. Under the regulations in force, in Poland juvenile matters are solved on the basis of the protective model. Since 2001 it has been enriched with elements of a restorative justice model such as mediation. Abovementioned regulations also provide a wide participation of social factor in juvenile matters but, as statistics show, with minimal relevance in practice. The article is a contribution to the discussion about causes of this minimal relevance and the possibilities of changing it, for instance, by enlarging the participation of social organizations in juvenile criminal cases.