The Role of the Prosecutor's Office in Crime Counteraction Under the Legislation of Ukraine

Abstract

The effectiveness of crime counteraction in modern conditions greatly depends on the functioning of the corresponding institutional mechanism, where the prosecutors office has an important part. Using the analysis of international documents and the experience of a number of countries, the author shows that the common international standard for the function of the prosecutors office in the criminal law sphere is to give it a priority role in suppressing crime, and to define this role in a more or less broad way at the national level. The author researches the Ukrainian model of the functions performed by the prosecutors office where this body is mainly involved in criminal proceedings, which makes it possible to identify crime counteraction as the key task of the prosecutors office. The author also examines the progress and the result of the prosecutors office reforms in Ukraine in view of the changes in the functions of this body in the sphere of crime counteraction. The functions of the prosecutors office are analyzed from the standpoint of their importance for suppressing crime based on the research of legislation, analytical and statistical data. The author shows that the key tasks (directions) of crime counteraction (identifying and eliminating the causes and conditions for committing crimes; identifying, suppressing and investigating crimes; prosecution of perpetrators; compensation of damage inflicted by crimes) fully correlate with the functions of the Ukrainian prosecutors office. The function of procedural supervision of the pre-trial investigation allows the prosecutors office to influence the identification, suppression and investigation of crimes; the function of the support of public prosecution in court makes it possible to criminally prosecute persons guilty of crimes; the function of representation allows the prosecutors office to compensate the state for the damage inflicted by crimes. Special attention is paid to the prosecutors coordination of the work of law enforcement bodies on counteracting corruption. Although it has lost its status as a separate function of the prosecutors office under Ukrainian legislation, it still has key importance for the work of different law enforcement bodies aimed at suppressing crimes in their different forms. The author conducts a comparative legal study of the regulation of coordination activities of the prosecutors office in Ukraine and in other countries, as well as the prospects of establishing the European Prosecutors Office; based on this study, the author concludes that the definition of the prosecutors office as the coordination center of the system of criminal justice aimed at counteracting corruption is a widely recognized global trend. The author also presents suggestions on improving the effectiveness of the coordination activities of the prosecutors office and of its other functions aimed at counteracting crimes.