To increase the effectiveness of combating crimes committed by and against juveniles, a Juvenile Affairs Division was established within the Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office in 2025, Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze stated while presenting the Prosecutor’s Office 2025 Activity Report to Parliament.

According to Gvarakidze, the division is staffed with specialized prosecutors who conduct prosecutorial supervision and support state prosecution in court exclusively in juvenile-related cases.

He explained that specialized prosecutors gave preference to alternative mechanisms to criminal prosecution for juveniles who met the criteria established by law. These measures were applied to 905 accused individuals.

“Alongside protecting the public interest, one of the Prosecutor’s Office’s primary objectives is to support children in overcoming problematic behavior, enabling them to continue their lives without a criminal record. In 2025, as in previous years, diversion was mainly applied to 377 juveniles (65%) who had committed theft.

As for the use of preventive measures and penalties against juveniles, in 2025, imprisonment accounted for 31.8% of all preventive measures requested against juveniles (or 9.8% when diverted individuals are also taken into account), while the rate at which imprisonment was actually imposed stood at 25.1%.

The overall rate of the use of imprisonment as a criminal sentence amounted to 13.1% of all cases,” Giorgi Gvarakidze stated.