JUVENILE PERPETRATORS OF MISDEMEANOURS

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Sources and methods of data collection

On the basis of the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20 and 155/23), data on misdemeanours committed by juvenile persons are collected by a regular statistical survey, which uses the statistical report entitled the Statistical Report on Accused Juvenile Person Against Whom Misdemeanour Proceedings Have Been Validly Concluded (SPK-2 form)

Statistical reports are filled in by competent municipal/municipal misdemeanour courts.

The Misdemeanour Act (NN, Nos 107/07, 39/13, 157/13, 110/15, 70/17, 118/18 and 114/22) was put into effect on 1 January 2008 and, since then, it has been applied in statistical surveys.

The classification of misdemeanours is the basis for the statistical presentation of data on perpetrators of misdemeanours. Each field of the classification also contains an item "Other violations of regulations". In the case of an increase of the item in question, which would indicate an increase in the occurrence of a particular type of misdemeanour within this item, an extraction of that type of misdemeanour from the item "Other violations of regulations" to a separate item within the same field of the classification of misdemeanours is done (for example, this was the case of the item "Violation of regulation on supervision of state borders").

Coverage

The statistical survey covers all juvenile perpetrators of misdemeanours in order to examine the volume and spread of misdemeanours for the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia.

Definitions

Misdemeanours are conducts that violate or threaten public order, social discipline or other social values guaranteed and protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, national and international laws, the protection of which is not possible without the misdemeanour system of sanctions and is not achieved through the penal coercion.

In terms of statistical surveys, misdemeanours cover an occurrence that starts with reporting a committed misdemeanour and ends with a valid conclusion of proceedings done by a competent municipal/municipal misdemeanour court.

Juvenile perpetrator of a misdemeanour is a person that, at the time of committing a misdemeanour, turned 14 but not yet 18 years of age and against whom misdemeanour proceedings have been validly concluded by a decision to terminate the proceedings or a decision on applying educational measure or a decision by which a person has been found guilty (juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years who were sentenced to juvenile imprisonment or fined).

The term "misdemeanour in merger" means the event when the perpetrator, performing one or more acts, commits several misdemeanours, which he or she is being tried for at the same time. In the case of merger, the most serious offence is recorded.

Starting from the 2018 reference year, the structure of the classification of misdemeanours used by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics has been changed in a way that the number of misdemeanour fields had been reduced from nine to four. Individual items of the classification of misdemeanours listed in cancelled fields have been included in the remaining four fields, which ensured the completeness of the coverage. Namely, the fields of the classification of misdemeanours entitled "Work and safety at work", "Education, science, culture and information", "Health care, social welfare, health insurance and environmental health" as well as a part of "Administration" have been included in the field "Economy". The field of the classification of misdemeanours entitled "General safety" has been included in the field "Public order and peace and general safety". Finally, one item from the field "Administration" has been included in the field "Financial activities".

Since both the decision on rejecting the proposal for misdemeanour proceedings and the decision by which it is determined that the perpetrator has committed a misdemeanour while being mentally incompetent are procedural in nature, starting from the 2018 reference year, they have not been observed as individual modalities of the "Type of decision" statistical variable anymore, but have been dispersed within the remaining applicable modalities.

Personal data on a perpetrator of a misdemeanour

Personal data on a perpetrator of a misdemeanour refer to the situation as at the time of committing a misdemeanour.

Age is considered the age a person turned at the time of committing a misdemeanour and not the age at the time of reaching the decision.

Misdemeanour penalties

Sanctions pronounced to a juvenile perpetrator include: from three to 15 days in juvenile imprisonment, a fine, educational measures (reprimand, special obligations or assignment to a disciplinary centre) and security measures.

According to the Misdemeanour Act, an educational measure may be pronounced to a juvenile perpetrator. A decision contains only the kind of measure applied, but the juvenile perpetrator is not found guilty of the offence charged for (Article 227, Paragraph 3 of the Misdemeanour Act).