On the goal-setting system in the Russian criminal procedure

The paper presents a study of the problem of determining the criminal procedure goals in relation to modern Russian criminal proceedings. The authors summarized the concepts, views, and approaches to determining the goals of criminal procedure (criminal proceedings) historical types presented in criminal procedure science. The authors applied the results obtained to the current model of the Russian criminal procedure and carried out a functional analysis of procedural activities separately in pre-trial and court proceedings focusing on powers of officials carrying out criminal proceedings. When searching and formulating goals for each part of court proceedings, the authors relied on the characterization of the goal as a hypothetical form of completing the process determined by the powers of the head of the procedure and the relation of the criminal procedure with criminal law. The study shows that attempts to formulate a single goal of a criminal procedure organized according to a mixed type are initially doomed to failure due to the fundamental differences between pre-trial and court proceedings. The authors propose distinguishing in the Russian criminal procedure (criminal proceedings) not one, but several goals determined by the characteristics of separate stages of procedural activity: the goals the investigator (inquiry officer) faces during the preliminary investigation; the goals the prosecutor faces during criminal prosecution; and the justice goals ensured by the court. The proposed goal-setting system of the Russian criminal procedure is based on an objective criterion – functional differences in the procedural statuses of officials conducting criminal proceedings.