Basics of Criminal Policy: from Theoretical Discourse to De Lege Ferеnda

Abstract

The authors analyze publications in criminal policy, study its understanding by scholars of criminal and criminal procedure law and criminology, and present their own vision of different aspects of the development and implementation of criminal policy in the Russian Federation. They examine criminal policy as a complex pheno­menon which has law enforcement and human rights dimensions aimed at counteracting crime, as a system which includes criminal law, criminal procedure, investigation, penitentiary and criminological policies; the authors present arguments in favor of using such an approach. Criminal policy cannot be designed independently from state legal policy; it should be developed with the participation of civil society institutions and should be approved by it. The main goal of this work is to determine the basics (the principles) of Russian criminal policy, to describe their contents, interconnections and interpenetration. The authors examine and analyze different approaches to specifying the principles of criminal policy. They come to the conclusion that the principles of criminal policy differ from the principles of anti-criminal branches of law, but the latter should determine the basic clauses of criminal and criminal procedure law. It is stressed that a system of principles focusing on a common goal — crime counteraction — can only be discussed within the framework of criminal policy. The authors study the international experience of criminal policy in different countries and determine four fundamental principles of criminal policy in the member states of the Council of Europe. The analysis of modern criminal law and criminal procedure legislation with its numerous changes and amendments, the identified lack of coordination and inconsistency of the actions of lawmakers allow the authors to discuss the necessity of developing a unified criminal law, criminal procedure and penitentiary policy, i.e. criminal policy in a broad sense. They conclude that it is necessary to design a document, officially recognized at the state level, that would stipulate and reflect the basics (the principles), goals and tasks, as well as the priority directions for developing the criminal policy.