Social distributional aspect of penal actions

Academy of the Federal penitentiary service of Russia, 1 Sennaya str., Ryazan, 390000, Russia

^* Corresponding author: a.copytowa@yandex.ru

Abstract

Criminal legislation of any state provided at the initial stages of its development for punishment as the only measure of criminal law influence on a person committing a socially dangerous act. Moreover, the types of punishment mainly boiled down to long periods of isolation of the convicted person from society: hard labor and imprisonment. Only in the middle of the twentieth century Russian legislation ensured the distinction between the categories of “criminal punishment” and “criminal liability”, although the official definition has not yet been formulated. The main legally significant signs of criminal punishment as measures of state coercion and other measures implemented within the framework of criminal liability coincide, and therefore it is not possible to ensure a consistent legal differentiation of these categories. In addition, “other measures” of a criminal law nature are highlighted in the Russian criminal legislation, their essence is currently uncertain, since they apply to persons incapable of criminal responsibility (insane, some groups of minors), and persons convicted of a crime. Such terminological inconsistency creates problems in practical application of provisions of the criminal and penal legislation to ensure the correction of convicted person and the prevention of new crimes. Basing on the results of the study, it was proposed to divide the groups of measures that are implemented within the framework of criminal liability institutions and other measures of a criminal law nature. The former apply to persons convicted of a crime. “Other measures” are applied to persons incapable of criminal responsibility for a committed socially dangerous act due to a state of health or social and intellectual immaturity: irresponsible, mentally retarded, minors. This will provide the proper terminological distinction of the essence of legal categories and will allow identifying true goals of their application.