Legal Status of commisions on juvenile affairs and defence of their rights: problems and perspectives of development
Commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights occupy a special place in the system governing the issues of prevention of child neglect and juvenile delinquency. One can make an unambiguous conclusion about the public character of the commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights, their involvement with the executive power. The legal status of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights which are being formed in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and in the area subject to local self-government should be defined as the status of federal territorial bodies of the Government Commission on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights. It will require a detailed regulation of commissions' formation and activities, their rights and obligations which should be adopted at the federal level. The federal law must undoubtedly contain provisions regulating the funding and material security issues of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights at all the levels. In order to provide the continuous improvement of the educational level of the commissions' members it is vitally important to elaborate and define the means which ensure accessibility of information for them. That is why the members of the commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights should comply with strictest requirements including both the issues of liability in terms of juvenile liability and development psychology of deviant behaviour. It is also mandatory to define the jurisdiction of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights at each level, their rights and obligations and activity forms. The failure to regulate the staff issues of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights, the flaws in their activities that lead to hasty and sometimes even incompetent solutions of certain cases do not conform with their powers on application the state enforcement measures towards offenders. The federal law should also contain provisions regulating the order of considering the cases of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights. Commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights of all the three levels constitute a unified system; consequently, the decisions on certain cases, including the cases of administrative offences, passed by regional and district (in towns) commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights, may be appealed to higher level commissions. In real life commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights cannot be regarded as bodies which fully comply with the status of coordinating body, they are performing only monitoring function. The activity of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights should become more efficient and effective in practice; in order to meet this challenge there should be introduced the institution of authorized inspectors. This will become tangible only in case the State Duma of the Federal Assembly adopts the federal law regulating the activities of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights. In the absence of solid updated legislative foundation the chances to rectify the situation seem rather poor. Thus, it is vitally relevant to adopt the federal law regulating the activities of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights in new conditions, including the provisions regulating the execution of state powers on coordinating the preventive activities of public institutions. The necessity to consolidate the legal status and the role performed by commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights in the Russian Federation is also evident. To cope with this task one should work out and adopt the regulatory acts governing not only the order of formation and functioning of commissions on juvenile affairs and protection of their rights but also the issues of providing them with competent staff at the federal, regional and municipal levels.