CRITICAL REVIEW OF CRIMINAL LEGISLATION REFORM IN RELATION TO PRISON SENTENCES IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Abstract

In the paper, the authors investigated and presented a comparative analysis of the reform of the criminal legislation in relation to the prison sentence in Croatia and Serbia. Although both Croatia and Serbia are obliged to harmonize their criminal legislation with the legislation of the European Union and international documents, the solutions of their legislators differ to a considerable extent. With the new amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia in 2019, the so-called The Tijana Law, which has been in force since December 1 last year, introduced a sentence of life imprisonment, which was met with intense controversy in scientific and professional circles. Until then, the highest prison sentences of 30 to 40 years were included in life imprisonment. On the other hand, in its provisions, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia prescribes a sentence of long-term imprisonment, which cannot be shorter than 21 or longer than 40 years, given that the sentence of life imprisonment introduced by the amendments to the Criminal Code from 2003 has not survived.
Even with regard to the prescribed prison sentence, we come across a distinction between the legal provisions between the Criminal Code of Serbia and the Criminal Code of Croatia. The minimum prison sentence that can be imposed on a convict according to the Criminal Code of Serbia is 30 days, with a special maximum prison sentence of 20 years prescribed. In relation to the Croatian Penal Code, the difference is reflected in the special minimum legal provision for imprisonment, which according to the penal legislation of the Republic of Croatia cannot be shorter than three months, which means that the special minimum prison sentence in Croatia is three times higher than in Serbia. Along with the analysis of the legal provisions of the criminal legislations of Croatia and Serbia that refer to the imposition of prison sentences, possible proposals that should be taken into consideration were pointed out. The paper also investigated the convictions that imposed prison sentences in Croatia and Serbia, and made a comparative analysis and presentation of the imposed prison sentences.