The Legal Policy Objectives of Preventive Patronage
The Legal Policy Objectives of Preventive Patronage

Summary/Abstract: Preventive patronage is a child born from the marriage of child protection and criminal law, and we do not know yet how viable it will be. Within the range of authority measures to be taken in the case of juveniles, preventive patronage (supplementing protection proceedings) is a next step in the field of crime prevention, as its objective is to prevent re-offending and hence committing further crimes. Those one and a half years or thereabouts that have passed since the introduction of the measure are not enough to draw far-reaching or general conclusions on the effectiveness and taxonomic place of the legal institution. On the positive side, based on my research, it has appeared in the law enforcement practice and it has been imposed in several cases. Therefore, it is not only one of the optional tools and measures, but rather a specific decision taken by the authority reflecting the severity of the exposure. At the same time, law enforcement authorities formulated several proposals to rationalize and reduce procedural burdens, in particular, bureaucratic obligations. Given that this legal institution is of tender age, its available scientific literature is fairly scattered. Before the introduction of this legal institution, authors dealing with the topic addressed preventive patronage from a criminal law perspective, and envisaged its taxonomic place among the rules of substantive or procedural criminal law. However, according to Government Decision 1430/2011 (XII 13) on the National Social Inclusion Strategy and the governmental action plan on its implementation between 2012 and 2014, the legislator intended to introduce it into the child protection system. Besides, draft Act T /13091 on the amendment of certain acts for the purpose of protecting children submitted in November 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the Draft Act) specifically states that the institution of preventive patronage shall be introduced into the child protection system within the framework of the authority measure of placement under protection.

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