SHOULD ANY THIEVES BE IN JAIL?

Abstract

Since biblical times, there have been naturally disobedient to the law. With the advent of the state, many such violations are classified as a crime, and the guilty are punished. For a long time, these were the cruelest types of execution, which are even scary to remember. Nowadays, we call the society in which we live civilized. However, let it be without additional torture, but the death penalty is preserved in some states, the requirements for its application are expanding in the world. Paradoxically, behind the debates about the permissibility or inadmissibility of the death penalty, an unattractive fact remains unnoticed: millions of people have been and continue to be subjected to another form of execution — deprivation of liberty. Thus, the head, arms, legs, and other organs of the prisoners held in prisons, camps and other places of deprivation of liberty have been preserved. Moreover, if necessary, they are provided with medical assistance. But a person is a biological individual. Unlike animals, he is endowed with many social qualities, for the satisfaction of which he needs, at a minimum, freedom of movement and communication with other people, satisfaction of other needs. Deprivation of freedom is the loss of social life; execution is no less painful than physical hardships. Currently, there is a tendency to improve the conditions of detention of prisoners. Far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in July 2011, won the trial against the Norwegian authorities. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum sentence in Norway. (In addition, Norwegian Criminal law applies “deterrence” — the possibility of extending the term by 5 years an unlimited number of times). Anders Breivik complained about being served cold coffee and microwaved food. “This is worse than water torture” — the terrorist claimed. In addition, the convict was outraged that he was isolated from the rest of the prisoners and his extremist friends were not allowed to visit him, as well as the fact that he was forced to use an old model of the PlayStation game console. The court recognized Anders Breivik’s claims to the detention conditions as well-founded. “The ban on inhuman and degrading treatment is one of the basic values of a democratic society. It doesn’t matter who it is about — terrorists and murderers also have the right to it” – the final verdict reads. The country’s authorities must pay the terrorist a sum of 331 thousand Norwegian kroner (40.7 thousand US dollars). But this is in Norway, not in Ukraine. As historical practice shows, deprivation of liberty is not a sufficient incentive to prevent crimes and re-educate criminals. Its application makes sense only as a measure of social protection against persons who pose a danger to society. However, the drafters of the new Criminal Code of Ukraine consider punishment as punishment and propose to increase the maximum term of imprisonment to 30 years. A chronic failure of criminal law and criminal policy in general is the underestimation of economics in the construction of a system of responsibility. The main list of crimes and measures of responsibility are transferred from the edition of the Code to the new edition of the Code. State expenses for maintenance of the penitentiary (criminal and executive) system are multiplying. However, measures to ensure compensation for the damages caused by the perpetrators to the victims, to the state, are extremely insufficient. The work offers several ideas to eliminate existing gaps. The author’s view on individual sections and articles of the draft Criminal Code of Ukraine is also offered. Proposals on changing the order of formation of the author’s team of drafters of criminal legislation are submitted for discussion, fairer definitions of the concepts of crime and punishment are proposed.