Socio-Criminological Characteristics of Exemption from Criminal Liability

The article analyzes statistical and other social information on the specifics of using exemptions from criminal liability in court practice, which is underrepresented in modern criminological publications. It is stated that the growth in the total number of people exempt from liability, which was caused by the reform of 2003, now stopped at the level of 180-200 thousand people per year, which is 18-22 % of people for whom judgments on the merits of the charges have been issued. In this connection, it is proven that the potential for the humanization of criminal law through the use of this institute is fully used, while all legislative decisions connected with its improvement only lead to the changes in the general body of individuals exempt from liability; as a result, prominence is given to grounds for exemption connected with the compensation of damage inflicted on the victim and extra payments for the benefit of the state. The share of persons who reconciled with the victims and agreed to pay a court fine comprises over 80 % of the total number of persons exempt from liability. This research also addresses the issue of the correlation between the grounds for exemption from liability and the type of the committed crime, its criminological features and the degree of public danger. Based on this information, three criminological models of exemption from criminal liability have been worked out, they clearly correspond to the prescriptions of Art. 74, 76 and 76.2 of the CC of the RF. The sustainable socio-criminological basis of exemption from liability makes it possible to determine the social background for the existence and future development of this institute. Having analyzed the existing research approaches to the social basis for exemption, the author concludes that this basis consists in the adequate restoration of the interests of the person, the society, and the state violated by the crime through independent and intensive actions of the person who committed this crime and, as a result, the use of criminal liability measures becomes excessive.