Social purpose of criminal law

E.V. Medvedev

Ulyanovsk State University, Ulyanovsk, 432007 Russia

E-mail: oxymoron@rambler.ru

Received May 6, 2022

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.4.122-133

For citation: Medvedev E.V. Social purpose of criminal law. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2022, vol. 164, no. 4, pp. 122–133. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.4.122-133. (In Russian)

Abstract

This article discusses the results of an analysis of the social purpose of criminal law, which is perceived as a separate branch of law. The most common doctrinal views on the social origins of criminal law as a social regulator were considered. Based on the results obtained, a new vision of the problem was proposed and the concepts under study were redefined. The protection of social values by criminal law was emphasized as the background for strong public relations. The mechanism of infringing the values and their bearers (physical and legal entities, the entire society and state), as well as the social ties in various spheres of human activities arising from these values, were covered. From this perspective, the causes of many controversies in the theory of the general part of criminal law can be explained. Additionally, the existing disputes over some of its problematic issues can be settled, such as those in the theory of the object of crime in order to reconcile the upholders of the view that any object of crime concerns social relations with the supporters of the concept of interest (good) and alternative points of view. The above-specified approach to unfolding the social purpose of criminal law enables further comprehensive studying of its functional potential because it demonstrates more clearly that the origins and functions of law make it a social regulator with regard to changes that it should and can induce in the objective reality.

Keywords: criminal law, social purpose of criminal law, functional potential of criminal law, social values, main directions of criminal law impact

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