L'UDIENZA PRELIMINARE NEL RITO MINORILE

The juvenile criminal proceeding presents numerous peculiarities due to properties of the person who is the protagonist and recipient of particular attention, including in relation to the formation of his personality. Among the institutions that characterize the juvenile criminal procedure there is without doubt the preliminary hearing, defined as the "center of gravity" of the entire system, because it provides the opportunity to define the legal proceeding of the child already at that stage, with a faster expulsion of the offender from criminal circuit. Compared with the preliminary hearing of the ordinary proceedings against the older – introduced in the new code of criminal procedure as a filter for unnecessary debates or for not to give action at charges that, prima facie, appear unfit to support the accusation in court, the juvenile preliminary hearing is characterized, above all, for the specialization of those involved, including, for example, the Panel, which is composed of a collegiate and professional judge and two lay judges, experts in matters regarding training of the child. In child preliminary hearing, then, in addition to the traditional endings, there is the chance of reaching a solution of the avoidance of desocialization resulting in the possible prison sentence, including: the delivery of a judgment of non-suit for lack of eligibility, the granting of judicial pardon, the irrelevance of the fact – when the fact appears tenuous, even in relation to the parameters specified by art. 133 c.p. –, the suspension of the proceedings with probation and the sentence to a fine or alternative sanction penalty. The epilogues in question – some of which were recently extended, with appropriate adjustments, even to older defendants – were imagined to meet the dual purpose of guiding the child in understanding the negative social value the offense was committed and to allow, then, the rapid exit from procedural circuit, beating the best time to conflict with the legal system. The present doctoral thesis tries, therefore, to reconstruct fully the preliminary hearing in the juvenile ritual discipline, analyzing the profiles of interest – especially considering the recent Directive 2016/800/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council – and those of critical, also making a comparison with some aspects of the French juvenile criminal system, profoundly different from ours, especially in relation to different and less sympathetic consideration that the minor offender receives from the legislature.