Coping with the undesired consequences of jury reform: How does the Russian criminal justice system control an acquittals spike over the reform 2018-2020?

Abstract

The historical development of the Soviet-Russian Criminal Justice System shows that there are ongoing negative attitudes towards acquittals amongst law enforcement agencies in Russia. Each period of acquittal rate rise is scrupulously monitored and controlled. Today, an acquittals spike in modern Russia is happening by virtue of Jury Reform, which has broadened the jury trial to the level of District Courts. By drawing on qualitative data from the observation of trials by jury, this paper explores the set of strategies and tactics, which the Criminal Justice System deploys to increase chances of reaching a guilty verdict by jury. The most frequently used strategies include manipulation in communication, trial “recursion”, trial acceleration, and system’s learning. The theoretical basis of research acknowledges N. Luhmann’s theory of autopoietic social systems and the Crime Control Model of H. Packer.