Mediation as a humane implementation of juvenile justice

The article is dedicated to the mediation as one of the elements of restorative justice in criminal cases involving minors. The subject of the research is the social relations in the process of implementing mediation procedures in the investigation of crimes committed by minors. The aim is to develop proposals for the introduction of mediation in criminal proceedings concerning individuals who have not reached the age of majority. Based on statistical data, previously published scientific works, and analyzed judgments of general jurisdiction courts regarding minors, the author identifies one of the reasons for the spread of juvenile delinquency—insufficient parental or guardian supervision and a low level of upbringing. The author argues that due to their minority, this category of individuals who have committed socially dangerous acts should be subject to humane alternatives to criminal proceedings. According to the author, such an alternative is mediation. The article analyzes the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the area of applying mediation in criminal proceedings. The methodological basis consists of a comparative legal method, which allowed for the distinction of differences between the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan from Russian legislation in the regulation of mediation procedures, as well as a forecasting method, which was used to propose the implementation of mediation procedures in criminal proceedings involving minors who have broken the law. The novelty of the research lies in the proposal to use mediation procedures for criminal cases involving minors: for minor and medium severity crimes—as a basis for terminating the criminal case or criminal prosecution; for serious crimes—as a basis for exemption from criminal punishment; for particularly serious crimes in certain cases—as a basis for mitigating criminal punishment or replacing imprisonment with mandatory or corrective labor. According to the author, the application of restorative justice in juvenile justice considers the minor as a person, giving them a chance for rehabilitation, while they are held accountable for their actions, but with a deeper understanding of the harm caused, which will help them refrain from committing crimes in the future out of internal conviction rather than fear of punishment.