When it comes to the criminal law of the Russian Federation and its structure, one of the main questions is about such concepts as “sources of criminal law”, “criminal law and its structure”, and “criminal norm”. This article will focus on these concepts and their essence.
Criminal law is the most important factor that affects the effectiveness of the fight against crime. It is no secret that the more fully it takes into account the real life conditions of society and the state of crime at the moment, the more successfully its basic functions will be realized.
The criminal law and regulations in its composition are the main sources of criminal law of the Russian Federation. They are characterized by a number of features that describe the effect of the existing law and explain its purpose. So, a criminal law is a legal act that is adopted by the Federal Assembly (legislative and representative body of Russia) and signed directly by the President of the country. In addition, such a law has the highest legal force throughout the state. There are a number of legal acts that are adopted solely on the basis of the Criminal Code. The first article of the Criminal Code states that all new laws that criminalize criminal liability must be included in this document. The Criminal Code is based on the Constitution of the Russian Federation and general principles and norms of international legal relations. Moreover, the main goal of the criminal law is to solve specific tasks of protecting the public from crime and criminal offenses.
Given all these facts, it is safe to say that the phrase “sources of criminal law” is incorrect, since it is in Russia that this source is one, and it is the Criminal Code. Only this document contains exclusively all criminal law norms on which the working field of criminal law and all its organs is based.
There is a misconception that the guiding explanations of the Supreme Court and the decisions of the Constitutional Court are also sources of criminal law, but this is not entirely true. The thing is that they do not create new norms, but clarify those already existing in the Criminal Law. Thus, acts that interpret the law are not its sources.
A characteristic feature of the criminal law is its codification. This means that absolutely all criminal law norms are contained in the articles of the Criminal Code of Russia. The set of norms is clearly systematized and has a certain structure: the Criminal Code consists of the General and Special parts, sections, chapters, articles, parts and paragraphs. Thanks to this structure of the document, it is possible to quickly and clearly determine the norm in accordance with which the offender or suspected of a crime will be prosecuted.
The original sources of criminal procedure law in Russia are the relevant legal norms in international law that have been ratified by our parliament. So, if the established norms do not meet international standards, they must be changed or brought into line with them.
The criminal law norms contained in the Special Part have two structural elements - sanction and disposition (there are no sanctions in the General part). Disposition is the part of the norm that describes the signs of a crime. The disposition can be simple (the name of the crime), descriptive (the name and description of the main signs of the criminal act), reference (refers to other rules to avoid repetition) and blank (reference to legal acts). The sanction is part of the norm, which determines the type of punishment and its limits. Sanctions are relatively specific and alternative. Relatively certain ones can establish a minimum and maximum punishment, alternative ones can provide for several types of punishment.
Thus, the main sources of criminal law are the legal norms that underlie one main source, the Criminal Code.