Investigating the role and challenges of the presence of counselors and social workers during the criminal proceedings of children and adolescents (with a case study of Ardabil city)

The presence of counselors and social workers during the juvenile criminal proceedings is very important and undeniable. Accordingly, a discriminatory policy on children and adolescents will provide a supportive approach to adopting responses. Social workers and counselors, as the most clinical forensic agents and in line with the principles of participatory juvenile justice, can take on several roles from the child's first contact to the official criminal justice authorities for sentencing and execution, even after sentencing. The importance of paying attention to the presence of counselors and social workers is so great that it has been emphasized in many international documents on children and adolescents; In addition, the Iranian legislature has mentioned this important issue in the Criminal Procedure Code adopted in 1392 in various legal articles. However, in practice, it is sometimes observed that the presence of this group of people in the juvenile courts of Ardabil city faces challenges that in fact the way to achieve the goals set by the legislator in order to differentiate has been challenged. Is; By providing appropriate solutions in this regard and the cooperation of supervisory units, these challenges can be reduced to some extent so that their presence during the trial in juvenile criminal courts of Ardabil city becomes a requirement.