Deprivation of Liberty of Juvenile Offenders in Slovenia

Slovene courts sentence only less than 2% of juvenile offenders to prison, whereas approximately 6% are placed in institutions for residential treatment. The comparison with other European countries leads to the conclusion that Slovenia is one of the countries with the lowest share of juveniles in prison or pretrial detention. The other characteristics of sentencing and detaining indicate that Slovenia follows the recommendations stipulated in the international documents as regards to the deprivation of liberty of juvenile offenders. The article presents certain areas of the legislation in which the best interest of the child should be fulfilled more consistently.