Judicial Fine: Issue of Legitimization according to Goals, Grounds and Procedure for Termination of a Criminal Case

The time has passed since the introduction of the new institution of judicial fine into the criminal and criminal procedure law of Russia is enough to understand and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this institution, the practice of its application, and theoretical approaches. The article notes the incompleteness of the formation of the institution of a judicial fine, the unreasonableness of its structural combination in the criminal law with the institutions of exemption from criminal liability and other measures of a criminal nature, the official ambiguity of its goals and grounds, as well as the illogicality of the legal regulation of the procedure for termination of a criminal case and criminal prosecution and the blurring of the limits of the imperative of the relevant prescriptions. Judicial practice has more or less resolved controversial positions, leveled some distortions of law enforcement caused by shortcomings in legal regulation, but many issues still remain in the discussion area. The legal certainty of a judicial fine and its agreement with other concepts of criminal and criminal procedure law are required, primarily with the initial definitions of a crime, liability and exemption from it, as well as with the norms on the termination of a criminal case and prosecution during criminal proceedings. Currently a complicated, sometimes illogical and contradictory mechanism is being used to terminate a criminal case and/or prosecution. The complicated nature of the subject of this study has led to the desire to find acceptable means for criminal and criminal procedure law to overcome the identified issues and contradictions as a common goal of the study. Its achievement is conditioned by the use of methods of system-structural and comparative analysis of legal norms, statistical data and law enforcement acts. As a result of the study, conclusions were formed about the insufficient validity of the Federal Law No. 323-FZ of July 3, 2016, the flawed practice of creating new types of differentiated criminal proceedings without social request (Chapter 511 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure), the need to develop the institution of a judicial fine, taking into account the differences in its goals and grounds and goals and grounds for exemption from criminal liability, in accordance with the basic provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

judicial fine, criminal case, prosecution, liability, punishment, exemption from liability, termination