Ensuring the safety of persons participating in criminal proceedings: procedural aspects

Abstract

The importance of the existence of the institution of ensuring the safety of persons involved in criminal proceedings is obvious to Ukraine. The completeness of consideration and investigation of the circumstances of the case, establishment of the objective truth on it depends on the absence of any pressure on the participants of the process.
 In order to achieve the objectives of the criminal process, Ukraine has introduced an institute to ensure the safety of persons involved in criminal proceedings, which provides a number of measures aimed at protecting the lives, housing, health and property of such persons from unlawful influence. The process of ensuring the safety of persons during criminal proceedings in Ukraine is in unsatisfactory condition. The mechanism for ensuring the safety of persons involved in criminal proceedings is incompletely regulated and insufficiently effective. All this contributes to the emergence of public distrust in the functioning of this institution and threatens the implementation of the tasks of the criminal process.
 The article considers the main procedural aspects of ensuring the safety of persons involved in criminal proceedings, the main shortcomings of the functioning of this institution and the gaps in the current criminal legislation of Ukraine. Due attention is paid to the practical experience of highly developed countries, where the mechanism of ensuring the safety of persons who facilitate the implementation of criminal justice, has been developed over the years and is a model for the establishment of such an effective system in Ukraine. The implementation of international norms and standards in criminal law will help build an effective and reliable institution for ensuring the safety of persons involved in criminal proceedings in Ukraine. The article also considers such procedural aspects as the range of persons entitled to security and the range of bodies that ensure security, provides a list of possible security measures.
 The necessity of making changes to the criminal legislation of Ukraine, introduction of own system of protection of witnesses and introduction of the international norms and standards in the domestic legislation is defined.