Penal and Legal Doctrine as a Legal Category and a Metalanguage Means to Shape the Penal and Legal Policy

Abstract

So far, the science of penal law has not looked closely into the term “doctrine”, and, in particular, “penal and legal doctrine” from the theoretical point of view. Thus we find it necessary to eliminate this gap, since the use of these terms and their synonyms varies greatly in the scientific and educational activities of penal institutions. Understanding the doctrinal grounds is also important for assessing the current situation and prospects for development of the science of penal law. The article analyzes the usage of the terms “penal and legal doctrine”, “criminal-executive doctrine” “doctrine of criminal-executive law”, “penal doctrine”, “correctional doctrine”; penal and legal doctrine is considered as part of legal doctrine; we study the notion of “legal doctrine” in its relations with adjacent categories (science, concept, position); we also investigate the effects of penal and legal doctrine on the penal and legal policy. We conclude that the term “penal and legal doctrine” is the core one and acts as a necessary prerequisite for scientific analysis. We also provide recommendations for the use of the term “doctrine” in the penal law sphere and put forward our own definition of the term “penal and legal doctrine”. In the course of our research we used general scientific, sectoral (social narrative) and level methodology (methods of theoretical and metatheoretical levels of cognition in science). Key words: penal and legal doctrine, legal doctrine, criminal-executive doctrine, correctional doctrine, doctrine of the criminal-executive law, penal and legal policy, metalanguage tool.