Criminal procedure form: concept, properties, system

The article provides the analysis of various definitions of the criminal procedure form and formulates the authors’ position on the issue, based on the properties and the process of forming the legal phenomenon under study. It is proposed to understand the criminal procedure as the normative model of criminal procedure based on the dynamic structure of criminal proceedings and embodying the instructions on the due order of criminal proceedings in all possible ways of its implementation. Consistency and multi variance are examined in the given article as essential properties of the criminal-procedure form. The authors draw attention to the fact that, as a rule, priority is given to consistency while multivariance takes a back seat. At the same time, the question of the possibility of combining individual criminal-procedure forms often arises. It is concluded that legislators significantly underestimate the characteristic of multivariance, that in light of the tendency to deepen differentiation of the criminal procedure creates the problem of the combination of individual elements within the system of criminal-procedure forms. Conventional and differentiated criminal-procedure proceedings, their pre-trial and judicial parts, can overlap each other, line up consistently, forming different combinations, or be implemented in parallel. Specific examples of such combinations in the form of criminal proceedings of private prosecution, with the use of a special procedure of trial, abbreviated inquiry, the special procedure of trial under a pre-trial cooperation agreement are considered. The authors conclude that the combination of individual components of the criminal procedure system should be implemented under some general rules. First, there must be at least one full-time evidence cycle in criminal proceedings, including all elements of proving. Secondly, the imposition or consistent implementation of criminal-procedure forms that simplify both pre-trial and judicial proceedings should be considered unacceptable. Particular attention should be paid to the exclusion of cases of the formation of "twice simplified" criminal-procedure forms, which allow the conviction of a person only based on his guilty plea. Thirdly, when introducing a new differentiated production into the procedural forms, the properties and options of its legal design (complicated or simplified), as well as all possible ways of combining it and interacting with other procedural forms should be clearly defined.

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