Legalumo ir tikslingumo principai vykdant baudžiamąjį persekiojimą: ištakos, raida, tendencijos

Abstract

Various forms of diversion are used in many European justice system. Their use is aimed at diverting the suspect out of the criminal justice system at the earliest possible stage. The extent to which the prosection service may divert cases from the criminal justice system depends primarily on the legal basis adopted for existence of discretionary power of the prosecution service. Two basic principles provide the legal basis for prosecutorial decisions: the legality principle and the opportunity principle. They are discussed in the article. More atenttion is paid to opportunity principle and the reasons for its adoption, because in Lithuania the legality principle serves as the basis for the prosecution. But two exceptions have been made to that principle. Several years ago, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Lithuania was supplemented with two articles: 9¹ „Discharge from a Criminal Case or Dismissal of the case when the Perpetrator and the Victim Reconcile” and 92 „Discharge from a Criminal Case or Dismissal of the case to a Person who Assissted in Detection of Organized Crime Group or Criminal Activities of an Illegal Unification”. The Criminal Procedure Code includes a completely new legal institute – diversion. The author points out that it is nessesary to look into the possibilities of the opportunity principle in criminal procedure, to set the meanings of discretionary prosecution and the public interest.