Juvenile Courts Act
Jugendgerichtsgesetz (JGG)

Juvenile Courts Act in the version published on 11 December 1974, last amended by Art. 3 of the Act of 13 April 2007

The Act applies when a young person or adolescent commits an of-fence which is punishable under generally applicable rules and regulations. Pursuant to the provisions of the Act, a young person is any person who is 14 but not yet 18 years of age at the time of the offence; an adolescent is any person who is 18 but not yet 21 years of age at the time of the offence.

As defined by the Act, a juvenile is responsible under the Criminal Code, when he/she shows a sufficiently mature moral and mental state of development at the time of the offence so that he/she recognizes the unlawfulness of the offence and is able to act in line with that recogni-tion. For the education of a young individual who is not sufficiently mature to be called responsible under the Criminal Code, the judge may order the same sanctions as a family judge or a judge at the Guardianship Court.

The Act includes provisions on the structure of Juvenile Courts, Juvenile Court Services and Probation Services. It gives the Juvenile Justice Prosecutor and the Juvenile Court Judge an opportunity to grant a stay of proceedings or to order educational sanctions (diver-sions). The Juvenile Criminal Code includes sanctions such as in-structions, disciplinary measures and juvenile custody.
Instructions are prohibitions and orders concerning the life of the young offender, and they are intended to support and to ensure his/her education.

When juvenile custody is unwarranted, but it must be urgently made clear to the young offender that he/she has to answer for his/her unlawful offence, the Judge will sanction the offence with a disciplinary order. Disciplinary orders take the form of warnings, restrictions and juvenile custody. Disciplinary orders do not have the legal effect of a sentence.

The Act defines juvenile custody as detention in a young offenders’ institution. The judge will hand down a juvenile custody sentence when the young offender’s harmful tendencies, which were manifest in the offence itself, make educational orders or disciplinary orders insufficient to re-educate a young offender, or when punishment is required because of the severity of the offence.

The minimum sentence for a young offender is six months, the maximum sentence is five years. If the offence is a crime for which the general Criminal Code provides a maximum sentence of more than ten years’ imprisonment, the maximum sentence is ten years.
Offences committed by young offenders are heard in Juvenile Courts. Juvenile Courts sit with a Criminal Court Judge acting as Juvenile Court Judge or with a panel of one professional judge and two lay judges (Juvenile Jury), or at the Court’s Criminal Division (Juvenile Division). Juvenile Justice Prosecutors will be appointed for proceed-ings in which the Juvenile Courts have jurisdiction. Juvenile Court Judges and Juvenile Justice Prosecutors must show educational abilities and be experienced in youth education.

Juvenile Court Services are implemented by the Youth Offices in cooperation with youth service associations.