Ensuring the Rights, Freedoms, and Legitimate Interests of Minors at the Pre-Trial Stages of Criminal Proceedings: The Example of Prosecutorial Supervision in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region

The aim of the study is to identify legal, regulatory, and practical problems that complicate the safeguarding of the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of minor participants in criminal proceedings, and to formulate proposals for eliminating those problems. The formal legal method made it possible to conduct a systemic analysis and interpretation of the provisions of current legislation. The empirical method facilitated the study of law-enforcement practice, including 26 inspection files and 44 criminal cases registered and initiated in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The statistical method enabled an analysis of official crime statistics for the country as a whole and for individual territorial entities of the state. The sociological method was used to survey 348 employees of prosecution authorities from 66 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The Author examines the specific features of initiating criminal cases and investigating crimes committed by children, or adolescents, and against them, which give rise to additional guarantees for securing the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of minor participants in criminal proceedings. The article identifies typical violations committed by investigators and inquiry officers when initiating criminal cases and investigating the crimes under consideration. The Author formulates recommendations aimed at preventing such violations. On the basis of the study, the article concludes that cooperation between law-enforcement and supervisory authorities is of particular importance, especially prosecutorial supervision over compliance with the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of minor participants in criminal proceedings.

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