6/24/2016 Child abuse Helping in the court County Court of Zagreb Juvenile judge Lana Petö Kujundzic

6/24/2016 Child as a witness Where When With whom How How often 1

6/24/2016 In praxis and legislation in every case to consider the best interest of the child to protect him of unnecessary long procedures on the court make good examples to use law in the best way 2

6/24/2016 Goal and Objective Protection of the abused child the same principle in all cases to take the child away from the family or to help a family (with family law or criminal law) - where do we draw the line? Adequate sanction for perpetrators 3

6/24/2016 Today’s Situation Act for Juvenile Courts (1997) has a good law but in reality judges and prosecutors are not specialized Too many places where the child is examined Too frequent examinations Only one institution specialized for helping abused children Not good coordination police-prosecutor-social welfare-juvenile court- family court-hospitals- Association for juvenile, family judges and experts (2010) 4

6/24/2016 How Did We Get Here? Act for Juvenile Courts- some changes in and in proposal to the Government Good work on laws but not good enforcement because: –we do not have permanent education –insufficient coordination between institutions –insufficient investments in juvenile justice 5

Legislation in Croatia Act for Juvenile Courts from 1997/2011 –Special legislation about victim children –Right to be heard in the separate room with specialist for children (must till 16 years) –Children attorney (must have for more serious crimes) –Right to have a person of trust –Can be heard out of the court, for example in Child Protection Center - 6/24/2016

Legislation in Croatia Act for Criminal Procedure –All children under the age of 14 – witnesses via video-link (must be in separate room from the court room) –Interrogation must be conducted very carefully, with caution –The perpetrator and his defence lawyer in the court room with the judge, and can ask questions through the psychologist (case Kovac v. Croatia, European Court of Human Rights) –On an exceptional basis – interrogating the child once more 6/24/2016

Case - homicide of the child´s mother Child with intellectual problems Expertise with psychologist and psychiatrist - can he be a witness? - understanding a right not to testimony Court order to be a witness in Child Protection Center Observing the interview video in the courtroom 6/24/2016

Case - sexual abuse of a 5-year old girl by father Preparation for wittnessing, information provided to child and mother Judge, social welfare and specialist observing the interview in the Child Protection Center Interview conducted by a psychologist and video taped Observing the interview video in the courtroom Connection with family court 6/24/2016

Available Options Family courts and juvenile courts in one, with specialized social workers and psychologists, separate rooms for children and technical support for audio/video recording In big centers in the country with hospitals for children, groups of support and all the experts for the children as the Center for Children in Zagreb State costs for juvenile justice are low costs in other procedure 6

6/24/2016 Recommendation Juvenile justice as an equal branch of law in Ministry of justice and in Supreme court (in Law school) The best practice should be shown and learned as in AJFJE Judicial academy, Bar association and University, Law schools must take a leading role as NGO To have statistics about the cases of child victims: –To create new needs –To reduce unnecessary acts –To raise public awareness –To propose a new law –To make evaluations of results 7