How will preventive work with teenagers change? Deputies spoke about innovations in legislation
A field meeting of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly on Legislation was held today at the Mogilev Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The main topic of discussion was "Administrative liability of minors: preventive measures and the practice of their application," reports a BELTA correspondent.
As noted by Marina Lenchevskaya, Chairperson of the Standing Commission on Legislation, a draft law "On Amendments to Codes on Administrative Offenses" is currently being prepared for the second reading.
"This draft provides for amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Procedural and Enforcement Code of Administrative Offenses. The current versions came into force on March 1, 2021. They were prepared in fulfillment of the head of state's directive on reforming administrative liability legislation. One of the guidelines is the preventive focus of legislation in this area," she said.
The task now is to make comprehensive changes to the codes that will preserve their general concept, update the norms, and bring them into line with modern realities. "These changes are aimed, among other things, at improving such a preventive institution as educational measures against juvenile offenders," added Marina Lenchevskaya. "The draft proposes to supplement the PIKoAP with a new special section - the application of educational measures, which consolidates the general and specific aspects of applying such measures."
During the meeting, an analysis of such measures and the practice of their application to minors was carried out.
According to Alexander Omelyanyuk, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives on Legislation, only individual adjustments to the codes have been made over the past few years. "During this time, certain experience has been accumulated, other laws have changed, and our administrative legislation needs to be brought into line," he stated. "One of the new sections concerns the application of educational measures against minors. This is a relatively new institution in our legislation; it appeared in 2021. And this is a continuation of the course we have chosen - a course towards preventing offenses. And this particularly applies to minors. They are still children, their behavior is not yet formed. We understand this perfectly well."
Over the years, significant practical work has been carried out in this area. Life has shown that the direction chosen was correct. "Now we need to determine how such preventive measures will be applied: who should apply them, in what cases, what is the procedure for interaction between bodies working with adolescents," emphasized Alexander Omelyanyuk. "Today we want to hear from those who apply this legislation in practice, who directly work with children. The law will work well only if it is based on the achievements we have. And the problems that have arisen need to be resolved in the legislation, which will allow these measures to be effectively applied."
Among the participants of the field meeting is Alexander Lubenkov, Head of the Department of Administrative Activities of the Police Faculty of the Mogilev Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Belarusians are always concerned about the issues of our children, how they grow up. In 2021, amendments were made to the Code of Administrative Offenses, and certain institutions were introduced regulating the application of preventive measures against minors. Some time has passed, we have seen what works and what needs to be adjusted," he said. "Meetings like the one taking place today at our university are very important. Not only parliamentarians have gathered here, but also practitioners from the Internal Affairs Directorate, the prosecutor's office, the Commission for Juvenile Affairs, and representatives of the scientific community. We can discuss this project from different angles, listen to everyone's opinion."