Пенитенциарная наука (Sep 2021)
Verification of Reports on Prison-Related Crimes in the Context of Ensuring the Rights and Legitimate Interests of Convicts
Abstract
Introduction: the article considers problematic issues related to the participation of penal system officials in procedural activities to verify reports of crimes committed by convicted persons, accused persons, and suspects in correctional institutions, and puts forward proposals aimed at improving the effectiveness of these activities. Our arguments are directly related to the following: determining the moment from which the calculation of the terms of such an inspection should begin, assessing the expediency of such an inspection, actual content of the procedural actions it contains and participation of the defender in them. Aim: to analyze the stages of participation of officials of bodies and institutions of the penal system in procedural activities to verify reports of crimes committed by convicted persons, accused persons, and suspects in places of imprisonment, in order to classify the problems of implementing this process and identify ways to solve them. Methods: we use complex analysis to make a classification of the problems of responding to various violations of criminal law prohibitions on the part of persons sentenced to imprisonment, as well as suspects and accused persons in custody. Results: in the course of the analysis, we identified the following groups of problems: 1) problems related to the reasons for initiating a criminal case; 2) problems related to the verification of reports of prison offences; 3) problems related to the adoption of final procedural decisions and the provision of qualified legal assistance to convicted persons in the implementation of verification actions. Taking into account the specifics of the problems, we propose the ways to solve them. Conclusions: we convincingly show that the timely and professional response of officials of correctional institutions (including pretrial detention centers) to various violations of criminal law prohibitions on the part of those sentenced to imprisonment, as well as suspects and accused persons held in custody, is mandatory and has a number of specific features due, first of all, to the environment in which such a response is carried out.
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