Criminal law principles with double prevention: a concept and a preventive action mechanism

Abstract

The research subject is the scope of criminal law principles with double prevention which prevent not only the acts directly prohibited by law, but also other, usually much gravier crimes. The author considers the existing approaches to the definition of the term and the legal essence of principles with double provision. It is noted that the conventional definition is not universal and doesn’t reflect the essence and the mechanism of the preventive action of the principles. In its turn, the insufficient knowledge of the mechanism of preventive action of the principles with double prevention hampers their differentiation and systematization. Using the method of systems analysis and structural-functional analysis as a basis, as well as the dialectical, logical and formal legal methods as additional methods, the author arrives at the conclusion about the existence of two types of legal principles with double prevention which differ in the specificity of the mechanism of preventive action. The first type of principles with double prevention is aimed at preventing criminal deformation of a person at the early stages, while the second one - on the neutralization of criminogenic situations. The author formulates the definition of principles with double prevention which reflects the specificity of the mechanism of preventive action, and systematizes them in order to analyze the practical implementation of principles with double prevention.