System of criminal legal principles

Abstract

Modern globalization processes consisting in transnational integration concern not only politics, economy, and culture but also the sphere of combating crime. In the fight against international criminal manifestations, it is necessary to consolidate powerful stabilising factors. One of these factors is criminal law principles, which are a kind of prism through which national legislation is assessed and the practice of its application is adjusted. In this regard, the question of systematising the principles of criminal law is of great importance. Purpose of the research: formulation of the authors’ approach to the problem of systematisation of criminal law principles. Methods: the research was based on the general philosophical dialectical method of scientific knowledge. Besides, the historical and legal, structured system method and formal and logical methods were used. Results and novelty: resulting from the study, the authors’ approach to the system of criminal law principles based on their interrelation, interdependence, and mutual influence is presented. The proposed separation of principles for the first time in the Russian criminal law doctrine reflects both horizontal and vertical classification. Horizontally, criminal law principles are divided into extraordinary (principle of justice), ordinary (principles of equality, humanism, and guilt), and substantive (principle of legality). The extraordinary principle of justice predetermines the content of other principles of criminal law. The ordinary principles of equality, humanism, and guilt determine the implementation of the principle of justice in criminal law. The substantive principle of legality is a unified basis for consolidating the provisions of the principles of criminal law in criminal legislation. This understanding of the principles of criminal law allows building their hierarchy. Vertically, the first place, due to its importance, is assigned to the principle of justice, the second belongs to the principle of equality, the third focuses on the principle of humanism, the fourth concentrates on the principle of guilt and, finally, the principle of legality completes the system.