FORMATION OF CRIMINAL LAW POLICY OF UKRAINE UNDER MARTIAL LAW: A STUDY OF NEGATIVE TRENDS

Abstract

The article determines and provides a scholarly analysis of the main negative trends in the formation of the criminal law policy of Ukraine under martial law (since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops). In this way, an attempt is made to identify "weaknesses" in lawmaking activities that were aimed at improving the Criminal Code of Ukraine with the beginning of the second phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war (after February 24, 2022) and in its conditions, based on the available doctrinal achievements. Using the methods of research that were applied in their combination (comparison, abstraction, induction, analysis and synthesis, systematic), it was established that under the influence of military factors, the formation of criminal law policy in Ukraine has been taking place at a level that does not meet the needs of the state for effective counteraction to crime, including its new manifestations in the context of high-intensity war. A hypothesis is made that negative trends in this area since the beginning of the second phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war have outweighed the positive ones. Based on the results of the study, the following main negative trends characterizing the formation of Ukraine's criminal law policy under martial law are identified: 1) criminal law populism (in all its typical manifestations); 2) poor quality of criminal legislation (imperfect law, which leads to ineffective application); 3) criminal law gaps that have not been eliminated and errors that have not been corrected (urgent problems have remained unresolved for a long time despite the obvious and urgent need to solve them). It is found that the existence of these trends characterizes the law-making process as one that complicates (sometimes makes impossible) the counteraction to criminal offenses, in particular those caused by or related to war, and therefore, the practice of rule-making needs to be transformed. Professional discussion and expert approval should be prerequisites for consideration of certain amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine in Parliament.