Despite the achieved stability in the economy, the crime rate in Russia is not declining. After 2005, there were no outbreaks of organized crime, but nevertheless, the level of offenses within the Russian Federation does not give hope to optimism. One of the reasons for sufficient work in the field of criminal offenses is the internal contradictions of existing legal norms.
Actual problems of criminal law can be divided into several large groups. Each of them needs additional consideration and improvement.
The problem of the concept of the object of the crime
Actual problems of criminal law are obliged to consider offenses as a system of constant conflicts between the state and its citizens. One of the basic concepts in this process is the process of explaining the object of the crime as the basis for qualifying the offense.
The doctrine of the object of crime was formed in the XIX century. Then the works of A. F. Kistyakovsky, V. D. Spasovich and others appeared in the press, devoted to the problem of choosing the object of a crime. At present, an attitude towards the object has been developedcrimes as a set of social institutions, which are damaged as a result of this or that offense. Actual problems of criminal law and criminal process are called upon to consider the conflicts of various institutions of the modern state. Among these institutions, the most important are:
- man, his freedoms and rights;
- social values, benefits, interests;
- private, public, state property;
- public safety and order;
- environment;
- the state and its interests.
Violation of any of them entails an imbalance between justice, as understood by citizens, and duty, as understood by the state. And the basic contradictions between the model of justice and the law are related to the fundamental issues of law in general. In general, the object of the crime can be considered the infringement of any legitimate interests of the victim as a result of the action (or inaction) of other persons. But in particular, the definition of this object belongs to the field of legal theory. For example, the protection of one's own interests by one citizen can be considered by the system as a socially dangerous act or even terrorism. The use of force during an arrest may be justified from the point of view of a police officer, but the detainee may consider it as an excess of authority. There are a great many such examples. This issue is considered by lawyers who study topical problems of the theory of criminal law.
Law and process
Actual problems of criminal procedure law come down to the hard work of lawyers in the following areas:
- problems of conducting criminal proceedings and prospects for its development;
- compliance of the prosecution and defense procedure with international standards;
- problem of collecting evidence base;
- trial in court; technical regulations, sentencing;
- the process of appealing the court verdict: the procedure for filing cassations, appeals;
- re-reviews of criminal cases due to newly discovered circumstances;
- stages of appointment and conduct of forensic examinations, involvement of third-party specialists.
Practice of criminal law
Modern legal science recommends actively working in the applied direction of the development of jurisprudence and working out various methods that help to accurately assimilate and adequately apply the current laws, its individual provisions and norms, which constitute modern criminal law. Actual problems of theory and practice are discussed at various legal seminars, where lawyers find any common solutions to a particular problem and develop effective methods for applying these solutions in practice.
Classification and definition of murder
Modern norms classify deprivation of life as one of the most low-latency acts, which means thatthe prevention of this offense, in theory, should be given more time and effort than any other act. At first glance, the statistics confirm the decline in homicides, but is it really so? Actual problems of criminal law are called upon to answer this question.
Modern legislation keeps records of murders by facts, but not by the number of victims. So, the murder of ten people will be qualified under paragraphs “a” and “e” of Part 2 of Art. 105 (murder of two or more persons committed in a generally dangerous way). At the same time, the statistics of murders do not include the infliction of especially serious injuries to the victim, which become the cause of death. Outside the attention of the “deadly” statistics, there are many victims who go under the article “missing” and so on.
Number of law enforcement officers
One of the most painful conflicts in society is the confrontation between law enforcement institutions and crime in general. The modern criminal justice system today is not capable of responding even to a third of registered criminal offenses. If the registration of offenses is carried out for each identified case, the system will simply paralyze. This contradiction can be resolved by increasing the number of employees of the state legal machine - investigators, policemen, prosecutors, judges.
Possible solutions to the problem
But our country already occupies a leading position in the world in terms of the number of law enforcement officers. Why does this system work soinefficient? This is one of the contradictions that must fill up the actual problems of Russian criminal law, and this issue should be resolved as soon as possible. One of the methods for solving the problem is to expand the list of freedoms for citizens (that is, what was previously prohibited by law will no longer be so). An alternative to this option could be the widespread prevention of offenses - what lawyers are doing now in other countries of the world.
Corruption and personal liability
Actual problems of Russian criminal law are crowned by the issue of personal responsibility of the offender. The fact is that in our country personal responsibility is tightly connected with such a concept as corruption.
Destroy this duumvirate should be an effective law enforcement system. Over the past 15-20 years, the fight against corruption has not gone beyond talking about it. Money spent on the fight against corruption, settled in the pockets of officials in uniform. The sprouts of corruption, which had to be destroyed at the very beginning, entangled all state institutions of management and control. Persons called upon to fight effectively against the dominance of money and connections go to positions of responsibility only to line their pockets. But today we can say that our country has lost this battle and rightfully leads the list of the most corrupt countries in the world.
