Voronin S.A. Supervisory function of the Prosecution Service (theoretical aspect)

Abstract: The research subject is the supervisory function of the Russian Prosecution Service. The research object is the Prosecution Service of the Russian Federation. The author considers such aspects as the role and the function of prosecution agencies which help to implement the tasks and to achieve the objectives of the general prosecution agency. The author applies the method of historical and legal analysis to prove that the functions of the Prosecution Service have been forming gradually, together with the social relations formation. In terms of the fact that the Prosecution Service is, according to the law, a system of agencies, the effectiveness of its supervisory activities should also have a system character, i.e. it should be ensured by the productive structural and functional linkages of all elements of the prosecutor’s supervision system. The research methodology is based on the analysis of the current legislation in the sphere of prosecutor’s supervision via use of the retrospective historical and legal and doctrinal analysis. The author substantiates the modern understanding of the function of prosecutor’s supervision, reveals the development trends of the supervisory function of the Russian and the Soviet Prosecution Service, and concludes about the historical grounds of impracticality of its reduction. The novelty of the research consists in the introduction and explanation of the term “prosecutor’s supervision mechanism”; the author reveals the disputable and contradictory character of some provisions contained in the related literature. Special attention is paid to the issues of supervisory activity priorities. This problem is studied using the example of struggle against terrorism and supervision over the so-called resonant cases. The author advises eliminating such a definition from the law enforcement practice. The author concludes about the fragmentarity of particular elements of prosecutor’s supervision mechanism studying, about the topical and even opportunistic understanding of supervision, the stop-and-go style, especially in the new decrees of the Prosecutor General actualizing particular spheres and objects of supervision. 

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