Active Repentance as an Incentivizing Tool of Criminal Law: Ukrainian Model

• Authors: Erik Mishchenko

Abstracts

EN

The article analyses the Ukrainian model of active repentance in criminal justice through the lens of restorative justice. Restorative justice has incrementally attracted the increasing attention of scholars, legislators, and policymakers across the globe. Ukrainian criminal legislation, representing a combination of post-soviet and Western approaches to criminal justice, offers a remarkable experience. Unlike many other Western European countries, the Criminal Code of Ukraine creates a strong incentive for an offender to show remorse at every stage of his interaction with the criminal justice system: during the pre-trial inquiry, throughout the trial, while serving punishment and even after the punishment while subjected to certain limitations (criminal record). At every stage, active repentance of an offender triggers/might trigger the possibility of leniency. This leniency might result in a release from criminal liability, mitigation of the imposed punishment, release the convict on parole or early expungement of collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, etc. The Criminal Code of Ukraine does not provide a clear demarcation of active repentance. Instead, the law defines it through the inexhaustive list of behavior patterns in which it manifests itself. This approach enables judicial discretion and reduces the formality in the assessment of the acts of an offender. The main shortcoming of the Ukrainian approach to active repentance is that the reconciliation between the offender, the victim, and the wider community is being advanced poorly.

Keywords

EN

active repentance; restorative justice; release from criminal liability; reconciliation of the perpetrator with the victim; active assistance in disclosure of a crime

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Krakowskie Studia Małopolskie
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 2(30)
• Pages: 97-109

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Erik Mishchenko

• Podilskyi District Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv

References

• Ball J.C. (1955), The Deterrence Concept in Criminology and Law. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 46(3), 347– –354, https://doi.org/10.2307/1139417.
• Bonesana-Beccaria C. (2017), An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, Trans¬lated From the Italian: With a Commentary, Attributed to Mons. De Vol¬taire, Translated From the French (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books.
• Bradley G.V. (2003), Retribution: The Central Aim of Punishment, 27 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 19. Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/495.
• Bronsteen J. (2009), Retribution’s Role, Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 84: Is. 4, Article 3. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol84/iss4/3.
• Burgh R. (1982), Do the Guilty Deserve Punishment? The Journal of Phi¬losophy, 79
• European best practices of restorative justice in criminal procedure (2010), http://restorativejustice.org/rj-library/european-best-prac-tices-of-restorative-justice-in-criminal-procedure/10121/#sthash.FsKX9yJD.dpbs.
• Hart H.L.A. (2009), Prolegomenon to the Principles of Punishment. Ox¬ford Scholarship Online. https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534777.001.0001/acprof-9780199534777-chapter-1
• Kryminal′nyi Kodeks Ukrainy vid 5 kvitnia 2001 roku [The Criminal Code of Ukraine, adopted on April 5, 2001] https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2341-14#Text [in Ukrainian]
• Kryminal”nyj kodeks Ukrayiny. Naukovo-praktychnyj komentar (2013) [The Criminal Code of Ukraine: scientific and practical commentary]. za zah. red. V. Ya. Taciya, V.P. Pshonky, V.I. Borysova, V.I. Tyutyuhina. Kharkiv : Pravo, 2013. V. 1 : Zahal”na chastyna / Yu. V. Baulin, V.I. Borysov, V.I. Tyutyuhin. [in Ukrainian]
• Meier, Bernd-Dieter (1998), Restorative Justice – A New Paradigm in Criminal Law? European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Jus¬tice. Vol. 6, Issue 2. Brill, https://doi.org/10.1163/157181798x00148
• Sitarz O., Jaworska-Wieloch A., Bek D. (2019), Can criminal law instru¬ments implement the concept of restorative justice?, Internationa Journal of Forensic Sciences. Vol. 4, Iss. 2, No. 166.DOI 10.23880/ijfsc-16000166.
• Von Hirsch, A., Roberts, J., Bottoms, A.E., Roach, K., & Schiff, M. (2003), Restorative Justice and Criminal Justice: Competing or Reconcilable Para¬digms? Oxford and Portland, ON: Hart Publishing.
• Postanova Verkhovnoho Sudu vid 30 zhovtnya 2018 roku u spra¬vi No 559/1037/16-k [The holding of the Supreme Court dated 30.10.2018 case No 559/1037/16-k], http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/77654034 [in Ukrainian]
• Postanova Verkhovnoho Sudu vid 10 lyutoho 2020 roku u spravi № 643/13256/17 [The holding of the Supreme Court dated 10.02.2020 case No 643/13256/17], http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Re¬view/87640666 [in Ukrainian]
• Postanova Plenumu Verkhovnoho Sudu Ukrayiny Pro praktyku zastosu¬vannya sudamy Ukrayiny zakonodavstva pro zvil”nennya osoby vid kryminal”noyi vidpovidal”nosti [The holding of the Plenum of the Su¬preme Court of Ukraine On the practice of application by the courts of Ukraine of the legislation on release of a person from criminal liability] dated 23.12.2005, No 12, https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v0012700–05?lang=en#Text [in Ukrainian]
• Soyer R., Pollak S. (2017), Active Repentance. Basic questions regarding the timeliness and voluntary nature of damage compensation SIAK-Journal − Journal for Police Science and Practice. International Edition Vol. 7.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/ksm20210207

Biblioteka Nauki

1930594