1. NON-PUNITIVE APPROACH AS NEW TREND IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE? CONSIDERING THE PREMISES FOR RECENT CHANGES IN PENAL POLICIES FOR NON-SERIOUS OFFENCES IN LITHUANIA Skirmantas Bikelis Law Institute of Lithuania 27th Baltic Criminological Conference 26 June 2014, Vilnius

2. Pre-trial Investigations with Elements of Restorative Justice 2

3. % from total number of successfully completed prie-trial investigations 3

4. V/O reconciliation (Art. 38 PC) Penal order (Art. 418 CCP) OffencesANY, except intentional offences with sanction that exceedes 6 years of imprisonment ANY, where imprisonment is not the solo sanction Mandatory compensation for damages Compensation for damages or agreement on compensatiįon Compensation for damages or agreement on compensation Necessity of consent of the victim YESNo, but appeal is allowed Necessity of consent of the offender No, but appeal is allowedYES Mild penal consequences Release from criminal liability, penal measures may be imposed No custodial sanction Economy of criminal proceedings Termination of pre-trial investigation No trial Participation of mediator NO 4

5. Premises for the change towards non- punitive prosecution (1) Non-punitive approach among prosecutors (2) New priorities set by the Prosecutor General (3) New regulation on accounting of prosecutors‘ work load (4) Mandatory criminal proceedings in domestic violance cases 5

6. (1) Non-punitive approach among prosecutors a) Awareness of victims‘ priority intersts: – Effective and rapid compensation of damages – Emotional recovery (respect from offender and his/her remorse is important) Punitive approach often impedes primary interests of the victim Punishments for non-serious crimes do not impress victims b) Motivation to save efforts and working time 6

7. (2) New priorities set by the Prosecutor General Since 2012, the Strategic Action Plan For Prosecution indicates termination of criminal proceedings after victim-offender reconciliation as a priority measure. Where victim-offender reconciliation is not possible the prosecutor should deside for penal order. Filling of indictment and referring the case to the court proceedings should be concidered as a measure of the last resort. 7

8. (3) New regulation on accounting of prosecutors‘ work load Since 2012, the Prosecutor General abolished prosecutors’ workload accounting reports which placed more value on pre-trial investigations completed by indictment rather than cases terminated due victim-offender reconciliation. 8

9. (4) Mandatory criminal procee- dings in domestic violance cases May 26th 2011 - the Law on Protection against Domestic Violance: The police initiate pre-trial investigation on domestic violance regardless if the victim filed a complain Initiated prie-trial investigations on domestic violance: 2010 – 684, 2011 – 7586, 2012 – 10 015 Domestic violance cases contribute 33-50% to the increase of cases terminated due to V/O reconciliation or completed with penal orders 9

10. Thank You for attention! Skirmantas.Bikelis@teise.org Law Institute of Lithuania 10