After successful completion of the course, students will gain knowledge about Croatian criminal justice system, its comparative advantages and shortcomings. They will understand trends within criminal justice, both in the sense of statistical overview of criminal offences and in the sense of legislative activity in this field. They will also gain important knowledge about the enforcement of criminal law in an EU member state, as well as in transnational and globalized context. In this context, they will learn about limitations of national criminal justice systems and ways in which they can be overcome.
Students will learn how to interpret and apply rules of criminal law, recognize criminal offences and solve simple cases. Furthermore, they will develop additional practical and generic skills, primarily through presentation and argumentation of their views in front of the class and clear and structured presentation of such views in written texts.
After successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- define basic concepts and principles of Croatian substantive criminal law from comparative perspective (actus reus, mens rea, defences, particular offences, sentencing) as well as of Croatian criminal procedure (different stages of proceedings, different powers, rights and duties of different procedural subjects)
- describe the development of Croatian criminal legislation
- use the sources of Croatian criminal law
- apply and interpret provisions in this area
- distinguish and categorize various compulsory procedural mechanisms according to their characteristics
- compare the mechanisms of enforcement of sentences in Croatia with those applicable in their own national setting
- evaluate the efficiency of Croatian criminal justice system and its overall compliance with internationally recognized human rights standards.