The problem of classism and equality in criminal law: Socio-legal analysis

Abstract

The author problematizes the issue of equality of citizens before Criminal Code, as well as the question of classist nature of the criminal delinquency and, accordingly, criminal law. This debate has existed so far in the circle of jurists, different points of view are expressed, arguments are given. Meanwhile, the very understanding of the term “class” as applied to crime or criminal law has changed over time. The paper describes how the discourse on classism has changed, the positions of the Constitutional Court of Russia on equality are presented. Based on the data of judicial statistics, the author points to stable patterns when less severe penalties are imposed for crimes considered to be more serious in law. This phenomenon, which may seem paradoxical in terms of the doctrine of criminal law, has a criminological explanation. In all such cases, the courts respond to the social characteristics of the criminals: the defendants for more serious crimes are those who have used their official position, but these same persons have positive characteristics, they are socialized to the maximum extent possible. And on the contrary, those who committed less serious crimes did not have a someone official position and in general, for the most part, are representatives of lower social strata. The author substantiates the thesis that the theoretical and methodological features of the current criminal law, in particular the mechanisms for differentiating criminal liability and the system of criminal penalties, do not adequately take into account the social characteristics of crime, the actual system of social values in Russian society, and the features of social stratification. The entire system of criminal punishments and the vast majority of sanctions in the articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Russia are based on a certain model of the hierarchy of the system of social values. At the same time, sociological studies make it possible to find that the indicated hierarchy model is divorced from reality, and therefore the criminal law is not an adequate reflection of real social relations. The author proposes to change the methodology of building a system of criminal penalties and sanctions in the articles of the Special part of the Criminal code. At the same time, it recognizes as a utopia the hope of ensuring equality of citizens before the law by establishing common and identical scales for all with a universal gradation of the severity of criminal penalties, since they contradict social reality.