Almost all states have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (193 states are parties) which guarantees a fair trial and a legal counsel to juvenile suspects. Therefore the core of the problem is not the theory, but the practice. Although a vast majority of states ratified CRC and implemented national legislation in accordance with CRC provisions (what in many cases is still unsatisfactory), they fail to comply with it. The reasons for non-compliance are various, depending mainly on the economic status of the country and the lack of information. It would be an ideal situation if every juvenile system could provide free legal assistance, but due to the poverty there are often other priorities.

While children need to be informed about their rights, public authorities (especially police officers and guards) need to know how to behave and treat young offenders. Abuse and tortures are common police practices in some countries, that is why we should keep disseminating the CRC guidelines to all the law enforcement officials who come into direct contact with young people, that is: police, guards, prison and Probation staff, prosecutors, public defenders, officials of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and judges. It would also be useful to develop a clear code of good practices for public authorities who deal with children in conflict with the law.

Working with children in conflict with the law is a truly multidisciplinary task. Most children can grow out of this behaviour and society does not benefit from these children ending up in the criminal justice system. That is why, besides normative obligations, all the authorities working in the area of the juvenile justice should be provided with a special training and cooperation between different professionals (police, lawyers, psychologists, social workers) is of great importance, given that social backgrounds significantly affect juveniles’ behaviour. Only in such way we can provide a comprehensive approach that will result in efficient restorative work.

As we can see globally, the situation of the children and adolescents in conflict with the law is far from satisfactory. Juvenile justice systems must avoid labelling children as delinquents, as this is often a self fulfilling prophecy. An immediate help from a trained advocate in such situations can change the fate as well as act in favour of the social integration of the young offenders. One thing is the improvement of the existing law in order to meet the Convention on the Rights of the Child criteria; the other thing is the need for further and more profound research. Consequently we suggest there should be more initiatives for international networking as well as collaboration in this matter in order to ensure that the administration of juvenile justice is carried out in the best interests of the child.

It often occurs that children and juveniles who commit an offence and enter in conflict with the law are not familiarised with their rights. It would be useful to develop and distribute brochures for juveniles and their families explaining the right to legal counsel and providing practical information on how to apply for a (free) lawyer. Therefore it is essential to develop positive law, policy and practice as well as to improve the State-funded legal aid system to ensure that free legal aid is available to all children at all stages of the criminal proceedings.

Given serious economic hardships that many countries face every day, there is a huge need of lawyers doing part of their job on a voluntary basis. NGOs and other entities working in the area of international cooperation could develop programmes of voluntary work for advocates in the countries with a notable shortage of lawyers. Apart from that, it is recommended to provide training for lawyers and law school clinic students on how to represent juveniles. The active participation of an independent defence counsel at all stages of the criminal proceedings is essential to ensure that the children’s right to fair trial is respected. The presence of an independent lawyer at all interrogations can also help to protect children from abuse and coercion, and ensure that they are not pressured or compelled to give testimony. Having a lawyer is also necessary to ensure that the child’s interests are properly reflected in any decision about pre-trial detention.

We feel it is important to stress, that the majority of states do not facilitate their national legislations in one of the common spoken languages, e.g. in English, and do not publish them on the internet either. Therefore it is difficult to find an adequate law and in some cases, unfortunately, we were unable to provide specific sources of domestic law, apart from the fact that the access to national legislations on the internet is still limited. For example, the reports on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Committee could mention or list the sources of respective national legislation, which would serve as very useful information for the investigators.