White paper on crime 2011 Part3/Chapter2/Section1/1
Public prosecutors are required to prosecute a case referred from a family court for being deemed appropriate for criminal disposition as long as there exists suspicion based on evidence sufficient to sustain the prosecution.
The criminal procedure is basically the same as adults but the court can decide to transfer the case to a family court if it is revealed that placing the juvenile defendant under a protective measure would be the most appropriate in the trial. In addition, if imprisonment with or without work for three years or more is deemed appropriate an indeterminate sentence (where the minimum and maximum term of the imprisonment are defined but cannot exceed five years and 10 years, respectively) is rendered within the statutory penalty, although excluding any case with suspension of execution of the sentence. With juveniles younger than 18 at the time of the offense, life imprisonment must be imposed if the death penalty is considered appropriate and imprisonment with or without work for a definite term can be imposed if life imprisonment is considered appropriate.