Perspectives for the imposition of individual types of punishment in Ukraine

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Perspectives for the imposition of individual types of punishment in Ukraine

Stanislav Mozol Stanislav Mozol, Doctor of Law, Senior Researcher, Associate Professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Execution Law, National Academy of Internal Affairs, Kyiv, Hennadii Polishchuk Hennadii Polishchuk, PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Execution Law, National Academy of Internal Affairs, 1Kyiv, Anastasiia Ternavska Anastasiia Ternavska, PhD in Law, Chief Specialist at the Department for Activities of the Disciplinary Chambers of the Office for Liability of Judges and Prosecutors of the Secretariat, High Council of Justice, Kyiv,

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of the article is to characterize the main trends in the imposition of punishment in Ukraine, its particular types, as well as a scientific analysis of the recent draft laws in this field.

Results. The relevance of the article is that one of the components of public policy on combating crime is punishment, which is the most important means of influencing potential offenders and persons who have already committed criminal offenses to deter them from committing crimes (general prevention) or same commission of repeated crimes (special prevention).

Introduction

In view of new objective realities connected with the implementation of the officially proclaimed course for integration into Europe in all sectors of public life, the development of the legal State in Ukraine and the reform of national legislation on combating crime, the content of this activity changes accordingly. The problem of effectiveness of such activity does not lose its relevance, because in the current political and socio-economic situation the counteraction to crime becomes one of the important and actual vectors of social stabilization. One of the components of public policy on combating crime is punishment, which is the most significant measures against potential offenders and persons who have already committed criminal offenses, with the aim of preventing them from committing crimes (general prevention) or from committing repeated crimes (special prevention). Therefore, the effectiveness of policy on criminal punishment largely determines the effectiveness of the entire system of countering crime in Ukraine and is one of the significant and complex problems of domestic legal science and criminal policy of the State. In specific domestic and foreign literature, the issues of effective imposition of criminal punishment and its individual types are covered in the works by T.A. Bushuieva, I.M. Halperin, P.S. Dahel, A.P. Kozlov, A.I. Korobie- iev, V.N. Kudriavtsev, N.F. Kuznietsova, N.A. Lopashenko, A.A. Muzyka, VV. Stashys, Ye.L. Streltsov, P.L. Fris, O.I Shynalskyi, and others. However, despite the unconditional importance of scientific study in this field, some of the challenging issues of the subject are poorly studied. Moreover, literature review fragmentary reveals the problems of modern judicial practice in Ukraine, in particular, the application of certain types of punishment. The aim of the article is to characterize the main trends in the imposition of punishment in Ukraine, its specific types, as well as a scientific analysis of the recent draft laws in this field.

1. General principles of criminal punishment

As it is known, the fight against crime is a complex, systemic and multifaceted activity in the field of social administration that has its objectives, tasks, vectors, object, actors, means, principles, proper, the proper definition of which guarantees effectiveness of this activity.

Considering the objective of criminal policy of the State, it should be noted that it is impossible to eradicate criminal offenses as a kind of social practice, to eliminate their determinants completely, as well as it is unrealistic and scientifically unjustified to overcome crime.

The only realistic tasks required in the fight against crime are to retain the number and spread of criminal offenses at a minimum level acceptable to society; to reduce the danger of such encroachments; to prevent criminal activity as a business, occupation; to restrict the interrelation of criminality and other negative social phenomena (especially corruption and shadow economy); to eliminate or reduce socially negative consequences of crime.

The public danger of criminal offenses and the offender is reflected in the sanctions of criminal law through such measures as the types and extent of punishment, that is, in the quantitative terms of the criminalization of such offenses, their penalization, which is the process of determination of punishability of socially dangerous acts, as well as their practical punishability, namely, the process of imposition of a criminal punishment in the judicial practice (Korobeev, 1987, р. 137). The similar definition is formulated by P.S. Dagel and T.A. Bushuieva, who argue that the penalty is statutory consolidation and practical implantation of the types and amount of punishment imposed for crimes (Dagel, Bushueva, 1981, p. 49). criminal special prevention punishment

Figure 1. Structure of criminal records in Ukraine as of 2010

Figure 2. Structure of criminal records in Ukraine as of 2020

For example, studies of German criminologists (Ortmann, 1993) enable Kh. Kuri and O. Ilchenko to argue that “the results of criminological studies unanimously reveal that severe criminal punishment has, if any, a slight impact on crime level, and has a small preventive effect.

Moreover, punishment in the form of imprisonment has significant negative consequences. Their application requires additional intensive rehabilitation measures to motivate people to change behaviour. A simple "serving one's term in prison" as punishment causes, as a rule, only fixing of criminal behaviour, habits and attitudes, due to the powerful influence of the prison subculture" (Kury, Ilchenko, 2013).

2. Development of alternative types of punishment

Therefore, criminal policy increasingly advocates alternatives to isolating those guilty of criminal offenses from society. The Draft Law of Ukraine "On amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine with regard to the development of the system of probation, increase of alternatives to deprivation of liberty and an enabling environment for reducing recidivism" (Draft Law of Ukraine

On amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine with regard to the development of the system of probation, increase of alternatives to deprivation of liberty and an enabling environment for reducing recidivism, 2021) reveals the legislative attempts to join this global trend, because one of its proposals is the introduction of a new kind of punishment, that is, probation supervision, which provides for the limited rights and freedoms of the defendant, with a view to correct and prevent committing new offenses, without the isolation of the convicted from the society.

In our opinion, we should pay attention to controversial provisions of the Law, such as: in connection with the proposed amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine, it is expedient to make corresponding changes to the Law of Ukraine "On Probation"; Article 59¹ of the Draft Law “On Probation Supervision” does not specify which categories of convicted persons should be subject to probation supervision (the gravity of the crime, recidivism, convictions, form of guilt, etc.), that is, it is necessary to consider both the degree of danger of the offense and the social danger of the offender (in the case of grave and exceptionally grave crimes, such punishment is out of the question, as in this case it cannot ensure the balance between public security and fair punishment for the crime committed); it is not quite clear whether the law-makers are logical to remove from the list of criminal punishments the restriction of liberty, which has been applied for a long time to a sufficiently large category of convicted persons (in 2020, these are 1116 convicted persons (1,7% of the totality) and which, with proper organization of its execution is a rather effective type of punishment, with which the proposed probation supervision could co-exist, because they absolutely do not interfere with each other (so why the law-makers have provided for such types of punishment, which in practice are not applied in general or cases of such punishment are rare: corrective work, detention in a disciplinary battalion, service restriction for servicemen, deprivation of the right to take certain positions or to engage in certain activities (as the main punishment)); the proposal to limit the use of punishment in the form of arrest by a category of military personnel is also insufficiently grounded.

Conclusions

The authors' study of modern judicial practice in Ukraine shows that Ukrainian criminal policy is characterized by a steady trend towards increasing application of alternative to deprivation of liberty types of punishment and exemption from punishment. The above calculations proves that exemption from criminal punishment with probation is applied in more cases than other types of criminal punishment. At the same time, the share of such persons is gradually decreasing. For example, the share of the persons who have been released on probation in the totality of the convicted persons was 47.9 % in 2010, and 38.2 % in 2020.

Therefore, the comparative analysis of actual penalisation in Ukraine for 2010-2020 years in the context of quantitative evaluation and prospects of imposition of certain types of punishment permits assuming that the process of improving the system of punishment and its further humanization will not be limited.

References

Korobeev, A.I. (1987) Sovetskaya ugolovno-pravovayapolitika:problemy kriminalizatsii ipenal- izatsii [Soviet criminal law policy: Problems of criminalization and penalization]. Vladivostok, Dal- nevostochnyi University, 268 p. (in Russian).

Dagel, P.S., Bushueva, T.A. (1981) Penalizatsiya prestupnykh posyagatelstv na okruzhayush- chuyu prirodnuyu sredu [Penalization of criminal encroachments on the environment]. Jurisprudence, 6, 49-55. (in Russian).

Turlova, Y.A. (2015) Problemy penalizatsii zlochyniv proty dovkillia v Ukraini [Problems of penalization of anti-doping cases in Ukraine]. Jurnalul juridic national: teorie fipractica, 2/1 (12), 120-125. (in Ukrainian).

Polishchuk, H.S. (2021).>erspektyv zastosuvannya okremykh vydiv pokarannya v Ukrayini [Regarding the quantitative assessment and prospects of application of certain types of punishment in Ukraine]. Ways of development of legal science in today's conditions: Proceedings of the XI International scientific-practical conference (pp. 207-210). К.: DUIT (in Ukrainian)

Sudova vlada Ukrainy [Judicial power of Ukraine]. (2021). court.gov.ua. Retrieved from https://court.gov.ua/inshe/sudova_statystyka/ (in Ukrainian).

Cherkasov, S.V. (2004) Rozvytok systemy pokaran, alternatyvnykh pozbavlennyu voli (isto- rychnyy narys) [Development of a system of punishments alternative to imprisonment (historical essay)]. Bulletin of the Odessa Institute of Internal Affairs, 3 (Part II), 141-145. (in Ukrainian)

Ortmann, R. (1993). Prisonisierung. In: Kaiser, G., Kerner, H.-J., Sack, F, Schellhoss, H. (Hrsg.), Kleines Kriminologisches Wцrterbuch. Heidelberg: C.F Mьller, 402-409. (in German).

Kury, Kh., Ilchenko, O. (2013)ezhdunarodnykh issledovaniy [The effectiveness of punishment: Results of international studies]. Actual Problems of Economics and Law, 2(26), 240-256. (in Russian).

Proekt Zakonu pro vnesennya zmin do Kryminalnoho kodeksu Ukrainy, Kryminalnoho pro- tsesualnoho kodeksu Ukrayiny shchodo rozvytku systemy probatsii, zbilshennya alternatyv pozbavlennyu voli ta stvorennya umov dlya znyzhennya retsydyvnoyi [Draft Law of Ukraine On amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine with regard to the development of the system of probation, increase of alternatives to deprivation of liberty and an enabling environment for reducing recidivism]. (2021). rada.gov.ua. Retrieved from http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=71629 (in Ukrainian).

Анотація

Деякі питання щодо перспектив застосування окремих видів покарання в Україні

Станіслав Мозоль, доктор юридичних наук, старший науковий співробітник, доцент кафедри кримінологи та кримінально-виконавчого права, Національна академія внутрішніх справ, Київ,

Геннадій Поліщук, кандидат юридичних наук, доцент, професор кафедри кримінології та кримінально-виконавчого права, Національна академія внутрішніх справ, Київ

Анастасія Тернавська, кандидат юридичних наук, головний спеціаліст відділу забезпечення діяльності Дисциплінарних палат Управління з питань відповідальності суддів і прокурорів секретаріату, Вища рада правосуддя, Київ

Метою статті є надання характеристики основних тенденцій застосування покарання в Україні, окремих його видів, а також науковий аналіз останніх законопроєктів у цій сфері. Результати. Актуальність статті полягає в тому, що одним зі складників державної політики у сфері протидії злочинності є інститут покарання, що є найбільш вагомим засобом впливу на потенційних правопорушників та осіб, які вже вчинили кримінальні правопорушення, з метою утримання їх від вчинення злочинів (загальна превенція) або ж учинення повторних злочинів (спеціальна превенція). Отже, дієвість політики у сфері кримінальних покарань значною мірою зумовлює ефективність усієї системи протидії злочинності в Україні та є однією зі значущих і складних проблем вітчизняної правової науки та кримінальної політики держави. У статті на основі офіційних статистичних відомостей досліджено реалізацію кримінального покарання та його окремих видів, що має самостійне значення як для законотворчої, так і для правозастосовної діяльності. Доведено, що кримінальна політика України характеризується стійкою тенденцією до дедалі ширшого застосування альтернативних позбавленню волі видів покарань і звільнення від покарання. Розраховані статистичні показники засвідчують ситуацію, коли звільнення від кримінального покарання з випробуванням застосовується в більшій кількості випадків, ніж інші види кримінального покарання. Наголошено на тому, що протидія злочинності є складною, системною та багатоаспектною діяльністю у сфері соціального управління, вона має свої цілі, завдання, напрями, об'єкт і суб'єктів, засоби та принципи, правильне визначення яких є запорукою ефективності цієї діяльності. З'ясовано, що в усьому світі кримінальна політика дедалі більше схиляється на користь альтернатив ізоляції від суспільства осіб, винних у вчиненні кримінальних правопорушень.

Висновки. Констатовано, що кримінальна політика України характеризується стійкою тенденцією до дедалі ширшого застосування альтернативних позбавленню волі видів покарань та звільнення від покарання. Як ілюструють наведені розрахунки, звільнення від кримінального покарання з випробуванням застосовується в більшій кількості випадків, ніж інші види кримінального покарання. Водночас характерне також поступове зменшення частки таких осіб.