Constitutional rights of the individual and their protection in modern criminal law

Volume 4, Number 2, 2019, P. 112–119

[ JURIDICAL SCIENCES ]

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Abstract:

The article discusses the significance of the Russian Constitution for the development of the criminal legislation. It analyzes the influence of the provisions of the Russian Constitution on a person, their rights and freedoms as the highest value, on the rules of responsibility for crimes against life and health, crimes against constitutional rights of the person. It has been suggested that it is necessary to preserve the death penalty in the punishment system for especially grave crimes that endanger the life. It is noted that in some cases the changes in the rules of the Russian Federation Criminal Code of liability for crimes against individuals do not comply with the constitutional provisions on the protection of the rights of a person and citizen. In connection with the repeated amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the rules of liability for encroachment on the most important constitutional rights of an individual appear contradictory and inconsistent. In particular, as a result of amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the minimum limit in the sanctions for all grave and especially grave crimes against health was excluded. The author believes that in the sanctions for grave and especially grave crimes infringing on the most important social relations, including health, not only the maximum but also the minimum limit of punishment should be established. An analysis of the amendments to the criminal law shows that responsibility for the most socially dangerous cases of theft of property by fraud has significantly decreased.

The paper analyzes the criminal legislation on encroachment on natural resources. These crimes, according to the author, differ from ordinary crimes infringing on property rights in that embezzlement causes damage to a particular owner, and encroachment on natural resources harms an unspecified number of persons — the local community, region, or state. Therefore, crimes such as, for example, illegal logging represent a much greater public danger than similar crimes against property. Therefore, responsibility for these crimes should be strengthened. Proposals are being made to improve the rules of responsibility for crimes that infringe on the constitutional rights of the individual.

Keywords:

constitution, crimes against the person, crimes against constitutional rights, crimes against property, deprivation of liberty, death penalty

Author:

Vladimir G. Tatarnikov, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on human rights, public control over the activities of law enforcement and security agencies of the Public Chamber of Irkutsk Region, PhD in Law, Associate Professor at Law Department, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Irkutsk, Russia

For citation:

Tatarnikov V.G. (2019) Constitutional rights of the individual and their protection in modern criminal law. Sotsial’naya kompetentnost’ = Social Competence. Vol. 4. No. 2. Pp. 112-119. (In Russ.)

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