The Criminological and Legal Aspects of Using the Deferral of Punishment
The institute of the deferral of punishment is one of the steadily developing institutes of contemporary criminal law in the Russian Federation that reflects a trend for the humanization of punishment, the economy of repressive criminal law measures, and for widening the list of measures and sanctions alternative to punishment. The relevance of the key aspects of research presented in the article is connected with the fact that the evolution of the institute of deferral of punishment in the doctrine of criminal law gives rise to a number of discussions both about the legal nature of this institute, its role and place among other criminal law measures, and the specific features of its application in the practice of law enforcement. Deferral of punishment is a socially relevant institute in Russian criminal law aimed at the correction of convicts without severing their socially relevant links. The impact of the requirements of international legislation on reducing the number of persons isolated from society and a wide use of alternative punishments in Russia have lead to a wider application of the deferral of punishment. The authors analyze specific aspects of the legal regulation of the deferral of punishment, study the criminologically relevant characteristics of persons to whom this criminal law measure is applied, as well as the law enforcement practice of appointing and enforcing the deferral of punishment. They present the results of surveying 250 convicts, and also of interviewing 300 employees of the penitentiary system, who ensure compliance with the requirements of law on the deferral of punishment in a number of regions of the Russian Federation, such as the Udmurt Republic, the Bashkortostan Republic, Kurgan Region, Kirov Region, Sverdlovsk Region, Chelyabinsk Region and Perm Region. The research also includes the analysis of departmental and court statistics, federal legislation and departmental normative acts. The conducted research allowed the authors to present their suggestions on improving the current legislation of the Russian Federation that regulates the penitentiary sphere.