scholarly journals Presumption of innocence in criminal procedure law: essence and misconceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-50
Author(s):  
Valeriy Protasov

The author points out the need to clarify the key terms of modern Russian jurisprudence. It is proposed to replace the term "criminal process" with the term "criminal-legal process". Attention is drawn to the incorrectness of the terms "criminal code" and "civil Code". The article reveals the essence and legal nature of the presumption of innocence in criminal law proceedings, which consist in the fact that the accused and the defendant do not have such legal obligations before the entry into force of the guilty verdict, as if they were guilty of committing the incriminated act. The author substantiates the fact that only the state can be a violator of this legal presumption.

Author(s):  
Igor Antonov ◽  
Igor Alekseev

The authors use a communicative approach to the theory of law in their analysis of criminal procedure policy and its role in crime prevention. This approach allowed them to determine the content of criminal procedure work that lies outside the scope of criminal law. This content is its ability to regulate social conflicts of criminal law character. Within this framework, the criminal procedure is viewed as a platform for resolving social conflicts, the sides use it to resolve a conflict between them in socially acceptable ways in the process of communication. The involvement of the aggrieved party in the process of communication in connection with the crime intensifies the correctional impact of the criminal process and its significance for crime prevention. The authors suggest using simplified measures of criminal procedure law for reforming this process and basing it on the procedure of terminating a criminal case with the imposition of a court fine as a measure of criminal law influence. They suggest using the same approach when terminating a criminal case due to the reconciliation of the sides, with one exception: during the reconciliation of the sides, only grounds provided for in Art. 76 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should be proven. If they are established, the investigator is obliged to petition to the court and the court, having established their validity, should decide to terminate the criminal case.


Author(s):  
Konstantin Obrazhiev

The author singles out constituent features of a continuing crime: 1) a continuing crime, although legally completed, is happening continuously until its actual completion; 2) a continuing action has a complex two-element structure: the first element of the objective side of a continuing crime is the action or inaction of the guilty person that legally constitutes a crime, and the second element is the subsequent continuous behavior that «stretches» the objective side of the continuing crime in time; 3) a continuing crime is producing a non-stop destructive effect on the object of criminal law protection, and the long-term deformation of this object happens because of the action itself, not the consequences caused by it; 4) by committing a continuing crime, the person preserves conscious control over the action after its legal completion, regulates his behavior, controls the process of inflicting harm on the object of criminal law protection, which makes it possible to recognize the person as active (non-active) in the criminal law sense; 5) only a crime with a formal construct of corpus delicti can be continuing. The abovementioned features together could act as reliable criteria for determining the chronological boundaries of specific criminal actions, as a key to resolving theoretical disputes and law enforcement problems connected with classifying a certain action as continuing. The article stresses that the permanent character of a continuing crime cannot be explained through the prism of the theory of a continuing criminal condition. Such an interpretation of a continuing crime, common in Russian and foreign research, contradicts the established tenets of the classical theory of crime. Only an act in the form of action or inaction can be recognized as a continuing crime, but not a state, situation, or status. Based on this, the author gives a critical assessment of Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that provides for the liability for holding the highest position in a criminal hierarchy. The objective side of a continuing crime has the following manifestations: 1) continuing criminal inaction; 2) a crime legally completed by an action, and continuing through inaction; 3) continuing action. Based on this, the author states that the description of a continuing crime contained in the Decree of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of the USSR of March 4, 1929 No. 23 (edition of the Decree of the Plenary Session of March 14, 1963, No. 1) should be specified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Daniela Alaattinoğlu ◽  
Heini Kainulainen ◽  
Johanna Niemi

Chapter 20 of the Finnish Criminal Code, which regulates sexual offences, is currently undergoing structural changes. Focusing on the section of rape, this article investigates the amendments proposed by the Ministry of Justice in 2020 in the light of the current Finnish legislation, legal practice, supranational normative developments and societal change. Lessons are drawn from a recent research project about the attrition of sexual violence in the Finnish criminal process by a research team at the University of Turku. The article welcomes the increased emphasis on voluntariness, contextuality, power imbalances and communication in the suggested draft law. It also criticises some weaknesses of the draft legislation. Conclusively, it proposes further action to improve legal clarity and strengthen the enforcement of a new legal conceptualisation of sexual violence.


Author(s):  
V.V. Rovneyko

The article deals with the issues of criminal law and legal assessment of patent trolling, which, on the one hand, is a kind of abuse of law and violation of the principle of good faith of participants in civil legal relations, and, on the other hand, has a sufficient degree of public danger and prevalence to be the basis of criminal liability. The author's conclusions are based on the study of media materials and judicial practice. Most of the “victims” of patent trolling pay money, not being mistaken about the legality of the claims, but being guided by the desire to avoid legal costs and other problems associated with litigation. Establishing the criminal legal nature of patent trolling is somewhat problematic, since it is a combination of fraud and extortion in the broad sense of these concepts. Signs of existing crimes, such as fraud (article 159 of the criminal code) and extortion (article 163 of the criminal code), contain definitions of these concepts in a narrow sense. This does not allow such actions to be classified as specified crimes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Robert Bartko

International migration has intensified during the last two decades. Europe has been receiving increasing number of migrants from the developing countries (primarily from the Near-East). The number of the irregular migrants entered the European Union reached unprecedented levels in the last four years. The mentioned phenomenon affected the European Union and the Member States as well. The irregular migration is defined and managed in different ways by the Member States. In 2015, when Hungary was in the centre of the migratory flow, a political decision on taking the necessary criminal measures to stop the irregular migrants was made by the Hungarian Government. The legal response concerned widely the Hungarian legal system. In the centre of the amendment were the criminal law and the criminal procedure law. Within the frame of the mentioned decision the Hungarian Criminal Code was amended with three new crimes which are the followings: damaging the border barrier, unlawful crossing the border barrier and obstruction of the construction work on border barrier. The above-mentioned amendment modified the general section of the Criminal Code as well concerning the irregular migration. The aim of the paper is to present on the one hand the solution of the Hungarian criminal law with special reference to the new statutory definitions using the analytical method and on the other hand the data of the Hungarian criminal-statistics as well. However, it shall be underlined that in our paper we could work only with the offical criminal-statistics for 2015-2017 because until the finishing of our study the Unified Hungarian Criminal Statistic of the Investigation Authorities and Prosecution did not summarize yet the data concerns the year of 2018.


Author(s):  
Alexander Smirnov

The author presents his views on the definition of the concept of «crime» in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation because this concept is of primary importance to the whole structure of criminal law and the practice of crime counteraction. He provides a consistent analysis of the socio-legal nature and the feasibility of each constituent element included in the definition of crime: 1) action; 2) public danger; 3) guilt; 4) unlawfulness (criminal); 5) threat of punishability. When defining the concept of «crime», the author starts from the premise that, according to the methodology of formulating fundamental law concepts, their definitions should include only the most important, constant and universal characteristics (attributes) that are not disputable and that support the ontological essence of the concept and never, under any circumstances, refute it. The author concludes that the action and its prohibition in the criminal law are independent and constant elements of crime. Guilt and threat are not always such elements. The indication of guilt is included in the necessity of establishing the constituent elements of a crime to prosecute a person. Public danger, according to contemporary research, is an element of all offenses, besides, it is inherent to criminal unlawfulness. That is why the definition of the formal concept of «crime» should be presented as following: «A crime is an action prohibited in the present Code». This definition, according to the author, fully corresponds to the language of law, is laconic and substantial, excludes contradictory interpretations and fully agrees with the principle of inevitability of criminal punishment, which is of great importance for the effective implementation of criminal law measures of crime counteraction.


Author(s):  
Андрей Владимирович Кулаков ◽  
Александра Юрьевна Болотина

Статья посвящена исследованию природы соучастия в преступлении как самостоятельного института уголовного права. Признавая институт соучастия одним из дискуссионных в уголовно-правовой доктрине, авторы отмечают, что в настоящее время спорным является вопрос о юридической природе соучастия, решение которого имеет не только теоретическое, но и практическое значение, заключающееся в обосновании ответственности соучастников преступления при вынесении судебного приговора. Правовая природа соучастия в преступлении проявляется в том, что данный институт определяется нормами уголовного права и тем самым представляет собой особое уголовно-правовое явление, характеризующееся рядом существенных признаков. Основная функция института соучастия как уголовно-правового института заключается в обосновании уголовной ответственности лиц, оказывающих содействие в совершении преступлении. В настоящее время в доктрине выработано две теории, обосновывающие правовую природу соучастия в преступлении: акцессорная теория и теория самостоятельной, независимой от других соучастников ответственности. Проведенный в статье анализ научных концепций и мнений позволяет утверждать, что в настоящее время соучастие в преступлении представляет собой самостоятельный институт уголовного права, закрепленный в нормах Общей и Особенной частей УК РФ, имеющий многоаспектный характер, выражающийся в зависимости от обстоятельств совершения деяния и преступного результата в одних случаях в акцессорной природе ответственности соучастников преступления, в других - в самостоятельной ответственности соучастников преступления. Именно при сочетании акцессорности и индивидуализации ответственности лиц, совершивших преступление, возможна всесторонняя и полная оценка правонарушающего поведения субъектов, а также назначение справедливого наказания. The article is devoted to the study of the nature of complicity in a crime as an independent institution of criminal law. Recognizing the institution of complicity as one of the controversial ones in the criminal law doctrine, the authors note that at present the issue of the legal nature of complicity is controversial, the solution of which has not only theoretical but also practical significance, consisting in justifying the responsibility of accomplices in a crime when passing a court sentence. The legal nature of complicity in a crime is manifested in the fact that this institution is determined by the norms of criminal law and thus represents a special criminal law phenomenon characterized by a number of essential features. The main function of the institute of complicity as a criminal law institution is to substantiate the criminal liability of persons assisting in the commission of a crime. Currently, two theories have been developed in the doctrine that substantiate the legal nature of complicity in a crime: the accessory theory and the theory of independent responsibility, independent of other accomplices. The analysis of scientific concepts and opinions carried out in the article allows us to assert that at present complicity in a crime is an independent institution of criminal law, enshrined in the norms of the General and Special parts of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, having a multidimensional character, expressed depending on the circumstances of the act and the criminal result in some cases in the accessory nature of the responsibility of the accomplices of the crime, in others - in the independent responsibility of the accomplices of the crime. It is with the combination of accessory and individualization of responsibility of persons who have committed a crime that a comprehensive and complete assessment of the offending behavior of subjects is possible, as well as the appointment of a fair punishment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Heuer

As an interface between constitutional and criminal law, this work addresses the legal framework of non-conviction-based confiscation in German law. It focuses on the question of the constitutionality of independent confiscation under Sec. 76a (4) of the German Criminal Code. To give a profound answer on this question, its substantive and procedural characteristics, as well as a comparative law approach, are examined. Based on these results, the legal nature of the provision is determined. This is preceded by general considerations on the determination of the legal nature, taking into account constitutional principles. It is ultimately worked out that Sec. 76a (4) of the Criminal Code must be viewed critically from a constitutional law perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Juan José Nieto-Montero

AbstractAs regulated in Spanish law, money laundering requires a prior illicit activity that has generated the assets that are the subject of laundering. One of the subjects that has been deeply discussed in recent years by certain doctrinal sectors, even with support in various jurisprudential rulings, has been the suitability of crimes against the Public Treasury, especially tax fraud, as the prior offence underlying money laundering. Thus, it has been debated whether the tax offender carrying out one of the activities typified in the Criminal Code (acquiring, possessing, using, converting or transmitting assets) automatically commits a type of money laundering. In that case, it would become an automatic and inevitable consequence of the tax crime itself. If, on the contrary, some other component must be required (essentially through the subjective elements of the unjust) to determine the existence of a second crime, that of money laundering, the prohibition of non-bis in idem confronts us, to a greater or lesser extent. Furthermore, doctrinal approaches and some judgements of the Spanish highest courts have generated a reinterpretation of the criminal law that fits badly with the principles of criminality. Nor is it easy to delineate the assets that are the object of the tax offence that may be subject to laundering, since, by definition, they are assets that were originally in possession of the offending subject and, besides, they are pecuniary obligations. To that extent, the presumption of innocence could, in many cases, determine the exoneration of the suspect.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Fedorov ◽  
◽  

The article is dedicated to the issues of introduction of criminal liability of legal entities in Hungary. Attention is paid to the fact that the establishment of criminal liability of legal entities in this country has been largely caused by the need for bringing its national laws in compliance with the provisions of a number of acts of the European Union (EU) and its membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Hungarian legal acts on criminal liability of legal entities are reviewed; the main of them are the special omnibus law On Measures Applicable to Legal Entities within the Framework of Criminal Law 2001 which came into effect on May 1, 2004, and contains provisions of criminal and criminal procedure law as well as the Hungarian Criminal Code 2012 which came into effect on July 1, 2013. It is indicated that under the Hungarian laws, a legal entity is a criminal liability subject criminal law measures are applicable to. At the same time, it is highlighted that not all legal entities can be held criminally liable. It is noted that criminal liability of legal entities is possible in case of any willful violation of the Hungarian Criminal Code by an individual acting in the interests of a legal entity in case of the presence of conditions stipulated by the law. Criminal law measures applicable to legal entities are named: liquidation, fine, restriction of activity. A conclusion is made that in Hungary, criminal liability of a legal entity is understood as application of criminal law measures to a legal entity by court in the course of a criminal procedure in the event of a willful crime (criminally punishable act) committed by an individual acting in the interests of the corresponding legal entity upon the presence of conditions stipulated by the law On Measures Applicable to Legal Entities within the Framework of Criminal Law 2001.


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