International standards for sentencing a special subject of crime

Abstract

Introduction. The issue of compliance of the principles of sentencing with international standards and their significance for the criminal responsibility of special subjects of crime has not been specifically considered in the theory of criminal law. But this issue should be reflected, because in the vast majority of criminal liability is brought to persons who are endowed, along with mandatory, special mandatory features. The aim of the article. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the provisions of the criminal code of Ukraine that define the criminal responsibility of a special subject of crime correspond to the principles of sentencing, which are the embodiment of international standards for ensuring human rights, and how this is regulated at the level of national legislation. Results. The methodology of this study is to analyze and summarize the scientific and theoretical material, as well as compare the norms of domestic and international legislation in the field of ensuring respect for human rights-a special subject of crime in criminal legislation. International standards, which are mandatory and not Advisory in nature, are embodied in norms-principles that are fixed at the level of legislation. The main form of implementation of the law on criminal responsibility is sentencing by the court, so international legal standards are implemented in the form of sentencing principles that guarantee the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the subjects of crimes, including special ones. The principles of sentencing should include the principle of legality of punishment; the principle of certainty of punishment in a court sentence; the principle of expediency of punishment; the principle of justification and mandatory motivation of punishment in the sentence; the principle of justice of punishment; the principle of proportionality of punishment; the principle of humanity of punishment; the principle of individualization of punishment Conclusions. The principles of sentencing embody provisions that oblige to take into account all essential features relating to the characteristics of the offender and the circumstances of the crime. Compliance with these principles and their clear regulation will help to improve the criminal responsibility of special subjects of crimes. Therefore, these principles should be clearly regulated in the criminal code of Ukraine. It is advisable to include the principle of proportionality (conformity) of punishment in the list of sentencing principles. This study is not exhaustive and opens up the prospect of further research on this issue and improving domestic criminal legislation.