Hachatryan, A.K. Amnesty as the type of dismissal from criminal responsibility for the crimes in the sphere of economic activity

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the so-called “economic amnesty” as the type of dismissal from criminal responsibility for the crimes in the economic sphere. The author singles out the general characteristics of amnesty as a type of dismissal from criminal responsibility, providing analysis of its application to the economic crimes. Based upon the analysis of the practice of application of the decree on the amnesty, the author shows the difficulties regarding legal formulae and de facto implementation of the amnesty conditions, especially those concerning compensation of the damage. The author analyzes the general targets of the amnesty. The article is based upon the use of sociological and formal legal methods in the analysis of the practice of amnesty application. The author also used statistical method in order to evaluate amnesty efficiency. The practice of application of amnesty has shown its imperfections in part of defining the conditions for the amnesty, their procedural implementation at the pre-trial and trial stages of the criminal process. In the future the use of such amnesties seems unviable, rather, the criminal law should be amended to make some sanctions in the Articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation more humane, and the legal practice should be corrected in order to avoid judicial mistakes.

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