Attorney General's Office asked the House to move forward and not backward in protecting the rights of adolescents in conflict with the law

• The proposed legal position of the Attorney General regarding juvenile criminal policy Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents.


The Attorney General's Office, through the Officer for the Defense of the Rights of the Child, Youth and Families, sent a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Simon Muñoz Gaviria, with comments on the report prepared by the Evaluation Commission of the Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents (PACU), because some of the proposals were not sufficiently developed in the text.

Regarding the proposal for the guidance of the PACU in the Interior Ministry, the Control Agency said that a criminal action that favors public order would involve a substantial retreat in the protection of the rights of adolescents in conflict with the law, given that not only must face the persecution of the offense but also the restoration of the rights of this population and the restoration of the rights of victims.

In like manner, warned that it is not advisable that there be a policy coordinating body, a governing body and an instance PACU to manage resources, because this could lead to a "train wreck" institutional, for the possible duplication of functions multiple instances around youth crime policy.

The Attorney General also highlighted the existence of a regulatory framework as the National Development Plan, the Public Safety Act, the Code for Children and Adolescents and the Constitution, which clearly indicates the responsibilities of governors and mayors in while granted autonomy in matters within their competence, so that instructions from the President only in matters of public policy.

In the opinion of the Attorney General, the governing body of Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents should be a body that has the institutional role the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies in criminal justice adolescent drawing power on national legal operators of this system and the authorities especially concerned in it, as governors and mayors, representing the National Government, which has the capacity to achieve management and resource mobilization and institutional architecture for the exercise of their functions. In his view, the Ministry of Justice and Law meets these requirements and could even temporarily assume duties as coordinator.

Among the recommendations made by the Attorney General's Office are:

• The transposition of children's right to remission of the prosecutors at the Criminal Court, to refer to adolescents in conflict with the law-oriented programs with parents and / or caregivers when the crime magazine more gravity and the victim is fully repaired, supervised by the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, which would help to decongest the criminal teenager.

• The appointment of delegates from the Ministry of Justice and the Law on Judicial Service centers for Adolescents (CESPAS) as the governing body and / or coordinator of Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents.

• The revision of Article 100 of Law 1098 of 2006 (Code for Children and Adolescents) for a better understanding of how it fits from the conceptual and practical restoration of the rights to the prosecution that makes adolescents.

• The issuing of a decree on the advice of Social Policy, given that its regulation dates from 1999, and in order to invigorate the body as a key strategy for coordination and consolidation of the National Family Welfare System in the country .

The Attorney General's Office, through the Officer for the Defense of the Rights of the Child, Youth and Families will especially monitor development plans and its alignment with the Territorial Ordering Plan (POT) and on the incorporation of the Infrastructure Master Plan in them, to ensure the construction and adaptation of specialized care centers and units of Care Services for adolescents in conflict with the Law.