The parliamentary majority Georgian Dream has registered a draft law titled “On the Rehabilitation and Support of Juveniles in Conflict with the Law.”

According to the draft law, a “juvenile in conflict with the law” is defined as:

“A minor whose commission of an act envisaged as unlawful by the Criminal Code is confirmed by a summary decision of the prosecutor, and who had not reached the age of fourteen at the time of committing this act.”

Under the current legislation, individuals under the age of 14 are not subject to criminal liability, and there is no response mechanism for unlawful acts committed by minors in this age group. The explanatory note states that the draft law was created specifically to address this problem, and its aim is the resocialization, rehabilitation, support, and crime prevention of minors under 14.

According to the draft, a new legal entity under public law will be established within the Ministry of Justice – the Center for the Rehabilitation and Support of Juveniles in Conflict with the Law. This will be the body responsible for directing and coordinating the measures defined by law. Its duties will include:

  • assessing the condition and individual needs of a juvenile in conflict with the law;
  • enrolling or redirecting the juvenile to relevant services/programs;
  • monitoring the juvenile’s participation in these services/programs;
  • monitoring the juvenile’s condition after the completion of the relevant service/program;
    and so on.

In cases defined by law, a juvenile in conflict with the law may be redirected to the Juvenile Rehabilitation and Support Home.

A prosecutor will have the authority to refer a juvenile to the Center upon issuing a summary conclusion confirming that the child under 14 committed an unlawful act. After completing individual programs at the Center, if further intervention is still needed, the prosecutor will apply to the court, and with the judge’s approval, the juvenile will be redirected to the Juvenile Rehabilitation and Support Home.

The document notes that parents or the child’s legal representative will face administrative liability if they refuse to cooperate with the Center or fail to comply with the requirements set by the program.

The explanatory note emphasizes that the activities defined by the draft law are not analogous to measures prescribed by the Criminal Code.

“They are not aimed at punishing the juvenile, but rather at helping them, protecting them, and developing necessary social skills. Every decision made in this process will be based on the best interests of the juvenile and will be taken through a multidisciplinary approach, which involves the participation of persons with different specializations (for example, a psychologist, lawyer, doctor, etc.) in determining the needs of the juvenile in conflict with the law,” the document states.

The draft law was registered in the Georgian Dream–controlled parliament two days ago, on 17 November. Its authors and initiators are the following “Georgian Dream” MPs: Rati Ionatamishvili, Archil Gorduladze, Tengiz Sharmanashvili, Davit Matikashvili, Zurab Qadagidze, Tornike Tcheishvili, Salome Jinjiolava, and Aluda Gudushauri.

Child rights defender Ana Arganashvili criticizes this initiative by Georgian Dream. She says that locking children in a facility under the pretext of support and rehabilitation a facility that may resemble a prison is unacceptable and wrong.

“By locking children in any institution, that is, residential childcare homes, you subject them to torture, violence, suffering, and the destruction of their lives. Every 24-hour ‘home’ or ‘residential center’ is a residential institution  meaning a place of torture for children  which is completely prohibited under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. If you adopt this change, we will protect the children and challenge you. And when the time you have borrowed from children runs out, you will depend on those children and not very hopefully,” Arganashvili writes.