Problems of Differentiation of Disciplinary Responsibility of Judges in Legislation and Law Enforcement Practice

Abstract

The special constitutional and legal status of judges, which guarantees their independence, requires that the rules on their disciplinary responsibility are sufficiently defined and predictable, and their application is based on the principles of fairness, proportionality of disciplinary punishment to the severity of the committed disciplinary offense, individualization of disciplinary responsibility. Among the legislative problems that complicate the implementation of these principles, the author notes the absence of the concept of minor disciplinary misconduct or legally established criteria of insignificance; the gap in legislation regarding the definition of repeated or systematic violations as a basis for the application of disciplinary penalties not related to the early termination of powers; the legislative restriction of the grounds for the use of demotion in the qualification class as a measure of disciplinary responsibility, and a number of other problems. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the need for legislative establishment of clearer criteria for the application of different types of disciplinary penalties, differentiation of disciplinary offenses of a judge by severity. Research objectives: to identify problems of legislative regulation of differentiation of disciplinary responsibility of judges; based on the practice of qualification boards of judges to demonstrate the problems of application of Article 12.1 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Status of Judges in the Russian Federation”; to formulate proposals aimed at solving these problems. The main method of research was the general scientific dialectical method of cognition, within which universal scientific methods were used: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, formal-logical and systematic. Comparative-legal, formal-legal methods, the method of legal modeling, etc. were used as private-scientific methods. The result of the study is the proposals made by the author, the implementation of which will improve the effectiveness of the mechanism for bringing judges to disciplinary responsibility, ensure fairness and predictability of decisions made against judges and, ultimately, will guarantee judicial independence.