An act of minor significance and the principle of opportunity of criminal prosecution

Potreba njihovog istovremenog zakonskog regulisanja

Abstract

An act of minor significance as one of the grounds for excluding the existence of the offence is regulated by the Article 18 the Criminal Code of Serbia and in that way new Criminal Code continues the tradition of solving problems of petty crime through substantive provision which was previously the case with the institute od insignificant social endanger. On the other hand, already since 2001. procedural provisions are establish in our legal sistem the principle of opportunity of criminal prosecution whose application with subsequent amendments of the Criminal Procedure and, after that, the adoption of the new Code of Criminal Procedure increasingly more widespread. Above principle has been widely introduced in proceedings against juveniles. Bearing into account the fact that along with the substantive institute that solves cases of petty crime in the legal system of our contry is developed procedural mechanism in the form of a public prosecutor handling the principle of opportunity, which has the same purpose, the author raises the question of the necessity of coexistence of these two institutions. Did any of them redundant? Which of the following institutes are more successfull in practical application and whether it needs further implementation of the other institute.