Law enforcement functions in the activities of the personnel of the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the theoretical and legal analysis and doctrinal substantiation of law enforcement functions in the activities of the personnel of the State Criminal and Executive Service (SCES) of Ukraine.
 It is noted that the effectiveness of the personnel’s activities depends on its social and legal guarantees, which make it possible: firstly, to maintain the prestige of one or another profession (service), its social weight (role and significance); secondly, to provide personnel and their family members with the constitutional right to a sufficient standard of living for themselves and their families, which includes adequate food, clothing, and housing (Art. 48 of the Basic Law of Ukraine); thirdly, to guarantee the safety of workers and their close relatives.
 The conducted analysis showed that in the conditions of executing by the SCES of Ukraine the task of implementation of the state policy in the field of execution of criminal punishments (during which one of the key criminal and executive principles is ensured – the safety of convicts and personnel), it is quite appropriate for the SCES of Ukraine to belong to the law enforcement sphere, with the exception of educational institutions, which follows from Art. 11 of the Criminal and Executive Code of Ukraine and Art. 6 of the Law of Ukraine «On the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine».
 It was emphasized that the recognition of some institutions of the SCES of Ukraine as law enforcement agencies and the special types of operational and service activities of their employees require increased legal and social protection of the personnel of the SCES of Ukraine, which are guaranteed by the laws of Ukraine «On State Protection of Employees of Courts and Law Enforcement Agencies» and «On the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine».
 It was concluded that the fact of recognition of bodies and institutions for the execution of punishments, remand prisons as law enforcement agencies of Ukraine does not contradict Art. 71 of the European Penitentiary Rules, since this international norm binds the penitentiary department not to law enforcement activities, but to some departments, which, according to the international public opinion, are not compatible with penitentiary practice.
 A caveat has been made that in case of exclusion a law enforcement status from the sphere of activities of the SCES of Ukraine, its personnel will lose the currently existing social and legal protection, which will put them in an increased degree of danger from the specifics of criminal and executive legal relations related to direct contact with convicts and remand prisoners.