REEXAMING OF JUSTIFICATION FOR INTRODUCTION OF A LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN SERBIAN CRIMINAL LEGISLATION
Keywords:
criminal sanctions, a life imprisonment, prison sentence, conditional releaseAbstract
Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia (CC) from 2019 had modify the system of criminal sanctions with introduction of a new penalty – a life imprisonment. A life imprisonment is prescribed for the most serious crimes and most severe types of serioius crimes, and basically, replaces and abolishes sentence of imprisonment from 30 up to 40 years, which was the most severe punishment within the existing penal system. The idea of introduction a life imprisonment in criminal justice system was not new because the Draft amendment to the CC from 2015 contained a similar solution, but it was withdrawn from the procedure after a public hearing and expressed scientific and professional criticism and division. In a repeated process of amending the Law in 2019, performed without a public debate, the Draft contain the simular proposal, which was finally adopted. Bearing in mind the broader social context, the legislator's retributive attitude (reflected in frequent changes of criminal legislation and the tightening the penal policy), media content that spreads moral panic and transfer the message that only severe punishing is the way to oppose different forms of criminality and (projected) punitive attitude of the general public, the introduction of life imprisonment present a logical result of turbulent and unnecessary changes and experiments in the sphere of the criminal legislation. This paper is devoted to the reexamination of justification for introduction of a life imprisonment in criminal legislation of Republic of Serbia byanalysis of new internal provisions and „controversial“ norms, issues of (im)possibility for conditional release convicted to a life imprisonment (with reviewing to the relevant jurisprudence of the ECtHR in connection with possible violation of Article 3 of the ECHR) as well as to present comparative legal modalities and practices in imposing and implementing sentence of a life imprisonment.
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