Facts
With a view to the entry into force of the revised Swiss Criminal Code and the Federal Act on the Criminal Justice System for Juveniles on January 1, 2007, the Grand Council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt issued a new law on the criminal justice system for juveniles on November 15, 2006. Jelscha Schmid, Tanja Soland, and the Association of Democratic Jurists Switzerland (DJS), Basel Regional Group, filed a constitutional complaint on January 2, 2007 against § 23 para. 4 of this law, which provides for an exception to the separation of juveniles and adults in pre-trial detention.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court accepts the complaint as a complaint in public law matters and upholds it. It holds that the requirement for the separation of juveniles from adults in the execution of pre-trial detention contained in Art. 6 para. 2 of the Federal Act on the Criminal Justice System for Juveniles has absolute significance and does not allow for exceptions. Thus, § 23 para. 4 of the Juvenile Criminal Procedure Code of the Canton of Basel-Stadt is not in line with federal law and violates the primacy of federal law pursuant to Art. 49 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution.
The Federal Supreme Court further finds that Art. 48 of…