SOME ISSUES OF LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT FOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UNIFICATION OF JUDICIAL PRACTICE IN CRIMINAL CASES
the paper presents a view on a broad understanding of unification in criminal law, which includes, in addition to the unification of the legislation, also the unification of the practice of applying criminal law norms by courts. The purpose and objectives of the study are to analyze the validity of a broad understanding of unification, especially in light of the fact that practice is initially considered a generalized experience of courts resolving similar legal situations. The research methods include the general scientific methods traditional for humanities, such as analysis, synthesis, and the systemic approach, as well as the formal legal method and the method of legal interpretation. Results: it is stated that, due to the poly-structural nature of law enforcement practice, the presence of competing trends in the interpretation and application of criminal law norms when resolving criminal cases is not excluded. Therefore, the highest degree of the unification of practice is achieved only in the so-called “practice-forming decisions” of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, adopted by it in a specific case as a supervisory instance court, as well as in the issuance of the so-called “guiding explanations” designed to guide courts towards the uniform application of legal norms in similar cases. Hence, the inadmissibility of the absence in the current constitutional legislation of the Russian Federation of an indication of the guiding and, consequently, mandatory nature of explanations issued by the Supreme Court is noted; the absence in Articles 9 and 10 of the Criminal Code of the provisions prohibiting giving retroactive force to more repressive official positions of the Supreme Court formed after a person has committed a crime (while the criminal law prohibition itself remains unchanged), as well as the provisions obliging the review of a judicial act in a criminal case in event of a subsequent change by the Supreme Court of its official understanding (in favor of the offender) of certain provisions of the Criminal Code previously applied in the same case, is criticized. Conclusions: the amendments to the current legislation of the Russian Federation are proposed, aimed at overcoming the noted shortcomings, as well as establishing a hierarchy of acts of the Supreme Court involving the official formulation of legal experience mandatory for courts, to overcome possible competition of legal positions.