The minors as victims in a criminal proceedings for criminal offenses against sexual freedom

Abstract

It is undeniable that the minors represent a particularly sensitive group of the modern society. Criminal acts have a particularly hard impact on the minors, especially children. For this reason, the domestic legislator almost always incriminates an act committed against a minor and/or a child as the most serious or heaviest form of a criminal act. However, in addition to prescribing special, more serious forms of criminal offenses when they are directed against a minor, and in addition to punishing such offenses much more severely, the domestic legislator also intervenes from another angle, guided by the best interest of a child as an absolute imperative, so he prescribes special rules under which the minors can participate in a criminal proceedings for criminal acts directed against them. This paper, starting from the general rules on the position of the injured party, provides an overview of the special rules referring to the minors as the injured parties.