Criminal Care for Minors who Commit Offences under Congolese and Franco-Belgian Comparative Criminal Law

The minor child, as an object of the law today, is already in danger before being dangerous. Thus, the criminal management of cases concerning him should be different from that of adults. This is the purpose of the scheme of Law No. 09/001 of 10 January 2009 on the protection of children (lex specialis). Unfortunately, in Congolese law as well as in Franco-Belgian law, criminal law seems to be almost non-existent on the one hand, and on the other hand, juvenile criminal law which today seems unsuited to the new forms taken by juvenile delinquency, particularly in the Republic of Congo and Belgium. In both countries, adolescents commit crimes that sometimes go unpunished, or are subject to reprisals or criminal justice conducted in disregard of the principles that guide juvenile criminal justice. Juvenile criminal law must undergo far-reaching reforms at the procedural, substantive and prison levels. This study suggests an in-depth reform that takes into account criminal mediation, restorative justice, as well as the adoption of a juvenile penal code.