No 3 (2020)

The paper considers some issues related to the application of so-called alternative methods within the crime investigation activity. The relevance of the study is caused by the opportunities opened by the use of hypno-reproductive inquiry and some other alternative methods in the practice of law enforcement authorities. Thus, the author analyzes the issues related to determining the concept of the alternative methods of crime investigation and its correlation with some other terms: alternative forms of using specialized knowledge, quasi-scientific methods of crime uncovering, etc. The author draws special attention to the notion of paracriminalistics, which is complex and non-uniform in content. The author draws attention to the attributes of alternative methods of crime investigation: application singularity, application to solve rare, non-standard investigative situations, the uniqueness, and similar characteristics. Moreover, the paper considers the issue of listing these methods and variants of their classification. Thus, the author analyzes the possibility of dividing alternative methods of crime investigation depending on the degree of their recognition by the criminalists-scientists and law enforcement employees. As a result, the author proposes a possible variant of an integrated definition of a concept of alternative methods of crime investigation and highlights some methods, which currently anyhow can be considered alternative (offender or victim profiling, scent evidence analysis carried out through selection, the use of the polygraph, psychic powers of some people, and hypno-reproduction method). The author says about the impracticality to characterize the list of these methods as a complete one.

In 2016, a new criminal law measure in the form of exemption from criminal liability with the imposition of a court fine was introduced in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This measure is complex and multilateral, and some gaps in its regulation have become apparent: the concept and attributes of the exemption from criminal liability with the imposition of a court fine are not defined; the order of the fine imposition for several crimes in aggregate is not provided; the possibility of deferment or installment when imposing a court fine is not considered, etc. The study aims at the analysis of mentioned gaps of legal regulation of the institute of exemption from criminal liability with the imposition of a court fine. The authors analyzed the appropriateness of using the term “a court fine”; specified the place of this penalty among other categories with similar names; considered the procedure of identifying the minimum amount of a fine imposed by the court and its amount when imposing it for several crimes in aggregate; developed the provisions of deferment and installment of the court fine payment, and described the conditions when it is possible to exempt a person from criminal liability with the imposition of a court fine in the case a victim protests again a compensation of damage. The provisions offered by authors determine the novelty of this study as this institute previously was not a subject of comprehensive research concerning the problems of its legal enforcement.

The paper deals with the problem of identifying persons participating in a court session through a web conference, in particular, the possibility of identifying by using biometric data. The relevance of the study is determined by the existing social request for the modernization of the methods of holding a court session and participating in it, which aims at ensuring their orientation to satisfy the legitimate interests and needs of citizens, as well as the insufficient elaboration of the possibilities for implementing a new way of participating in the court session in legislation. The author analyzes the pros and cons of the new way to participate in court sessions proposed by the law enforcement agency, expresses the author’s opinion on this issue. In particular, the author touches on the problem of identifying persons participating in a court session through a web conference, which today has more disadvantages than advantages. The author proposes the way to solve this problem: to use biometric data involving both a thorough analysis of the possibilities for its application by the legislator and testing in the practical field with the participation of specialists in the sphere of information technologies. The author proposes the use of biometric data of citizens to participate in a court session online. In this case, the procedures for collecting and using such data should be strictly regulated. The storage of biometric data must meet all safety requirements to prevent unauthorized use. The author agrees with the effectiveness of the measure taken by the law enforcement agency to reduce coronavirus infection and considers it possible to use this measure in ordinary life conditions.

The issues of theory and practice concerning the legal nature, essence, and meaning of the concept of access to justice are the most urgent in the modern legal science. The paper deals with the study of the influence of the subjective factors accruing from people who are concerned with the justice mechanisms (judiciary system credibility and the ideas of legal nihilism) on the enforcement of their right for the judicial defense, as well as the efficacy of the concept of access to justice in the whole. The authors consider the causes of the appearance of mentioned factors, the degree, and forms of their influence, as well as possible ways of elimination of the adverse effect of such influence. To improve the quality and elaboration of the research topic, the authors studied the issues of theory revealing the content of the concept of access to justice and the place of this idea in the legal science and practice. According to the results of the study, the authors conclude on the necessity to take into account the subjective factors when identifying the vector of development of the procedural legislation and judicial system in the whole due to their great impact on the access to justice for citizens and organizations as such factors cause the existence of mental, subjective barriers for the use of the judicial defense mechanisms. Among other issues, the authors offer to enshrine the concept of access to justice in the procedural legislation as a separate and independent legal principle, as well as to take it into account when elaborating federal programs and roadmaps on the development of institutional and procedural components of justice. The paper contains the proposal to develop some educational measures to eliminate the manifestations of legal nihilism in Russian society.

Disputes on the definition of the legal nature of civil liability, its place in the legal system and the system of legal responsibility, have been conducted in domestic law for a long time, but they are still acute. The prevailing position regarding the place of civil liability in the system of law is to classify this institution as private law. The paper studies the relations between the norms of civil liability institutions and the criminal law norms that are aimed at protecting civil law relations and shows their interaction with classical civil liability. The study reveals the coordination, subordination, and genetic links of the civil liability institute with other elements of the legal system. The definition of genetic links is based on the process of formation and separation of branches of law. The author studies the geometrical regularity characterizing coordination links and notes the existence of subordination links. Within the frames of the study, the author proves that the institute of civil liability cannot be exactly classified as an institute of private law. The analysis of judicial practice showed as well the impossibility to classify the civil liability institution as a civil institution. As a result of the study, the author concludes that civil liability institute has complex coordination links with other branches of law expressed in the use of general terms, concepts, and categories. Subordination relationships are manifested in the existence of a hierarchy both between civil liability measures within one normative legal act and liability measures established in the norms of other liability institutions. Genetic relationships reveal the common origin of structural entities included in the civil liability institution.