Keyword: «judicial discretion»

The article is devoted to the analysis of the principle of freedom to evaluate evidence and the issue of including the concept of “conscience of a judge” in the Code of Criminal Procedure. The authors propose to add to art. 17 of the Criminal Procedure Code provisions about the independence of judges according to art. 120 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and add to the article the theses on the purpose of identifying the true circumstances of the criminal case under consideration, based on which a fair evaluation of the evidence is possible. It is also proposed to supplement Chapter 2 of art. 17.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the RF “The principle of a substantiated and lawful judgment and sentence based on the conscientiousness of a judge”.

This work is dedicated to the study of problems associated with the use of evaluative concepts in criminal law when qualifying crimes against the person. The relevance of the topic is due to the dual nature of evaluative categories: on the one hand, they ensure the flexibility and completeness of legal regulation, allowing for the individual circumstances of each crime to be taken into account; on the other hand, they create difficulties in law enforcement practice due to the risk of ambiguous interpretation and the expansion of the boundaries of judicial discretion.

The presented article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the actual theoretical and practical problems of implementing the general principles of sentencing, enshrined in Article 60 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In the context of modern criminal policy, the principle of individualization of punishment acquires special importance. The author conducts a deep analysis of the gap between the doctrinal understanding of the individualization of criminal responsibility and real law enforcement. Special attention is paid to the problem of the formalistic (template) approach of courts to assessing the identity of the culprit and mitigating circumstances. Based on the latest Review of the Practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (approved on December 18, 2024) and cassation practice, the systemic causes of unmotivated sentences are identified. The necessity of reforming criminal legislation and the introduction of elements of digital analytics to overcome conflicts of law enforcement is substantiated.