Exemption from criminal liability with the appointment of a court fine: The analysis of judicial practice

Abstract

The refusal of criminal prosecution with the imposition of a court fine is a new way of resolving a criminal-legal conflict for the domestic science of criminal law and criminal legislation. The uniqueness of this ground is that this is the only “conditional” exemption from criminal liability in the system of general grounds: in case of non-payment of a court fine within the time limit set by the court, the court fine is canceled, and the person is brought to criminal responsibility under the corresponding article of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article analyzes the judicial practice of applying Art. 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for 2017–2021, judicial statistics, monographs and dissertations devoted to the institute of exemption from criminal liability, as well as scientific articles and dissertations related to the subject of this study. As a result of the research, the author identified two main problems of applying Art. 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: competition between Art. 76 and Art. 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the choice of judges in favor of Art. 76.2 in cases where there are signs of reconciliation with the victim; the problem of compensation for damage (making amends for harm). The article suggests mechanisms for solving problems: a theoretical model of Art. 76.2 is proposed.