Russia has proposed introducing criminal liability for legal entities

This idea was supported by the Investigative Committee

In Russia, they may introduce criminal liability to legal entities and reformulate the concept of guilt. After all, if it is not a person who is accused, but, say, an enterprise or an NGO, then there is no need to talk about moral responsibility.

This initiative of scientists was supported by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. It is noteworthy that in most countries such a concept exists, and some Russian legal entities have even been prosecuted. But domestic law enforcement agencies have still not been able to respond in kind.

The topic of bringing a legal entity to criminal liability was raised at the Scientific and Practical Conference “Modern Problems of Criminal Law”, held at the University of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Fedorov gave a full report on the topic.

A little background. Anatoly Naumov was one of the first to question the provisions of Soviet criminal law that the subject of a crime can only be an individual. Many years ago, he made a forecast: “Market relations in our country are capable of turning legal entities into subjects of a number of economic crimes, with the possible application of punitive criminal sanctions to them.” He defended this position when developing the draft of the new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (he was among the authors of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) three decades ago. However, when voting in the State Duma, the provisions of the draft Criminal Code providing for the liability of legal entities did not receive support. However, Naumov did not give up and all these years he was engaged in the formation of the Russian doctrine of corporate criminal liability and, what is very important, “a positive opinion among lawyers in relation to this criminal legal institution.”

– In the monograph “Crime and Punishment in the History of Russia,” Anatoly Valentinovich examined the views of Gabriel Solntsev (professor at the Imperial Kazan University, later governor – author’s note), the first Russian scientist to prepare a course on the general part of criminal law, says Alexander Fedorov, deputy chairman of the Investigative Committee. – He substantiated back in 1820 the need to recognize legal entities as subjects of crime and subjects of punishment.

200 years have passed, and this topic has returned. According to Fedorov, the bill establishing criminal liability of legal entities right now can “adequately reflect the new socio-political and economic realities.” But here the question arises: what about the concept of “guilt”? According to Anatoly Valentinovich, when determining the criminal legal guilt of a legal entity, it is necessary to move away from the psychological concept of guilt, defined in modern Russian studies and in Russian criminal legislation, as the only possible one.

At the conference, it was noted that the study of foreign legislation proves that the institution of criminal liability of legal entities can be called universal and independent of the characteristics of the state political structure of a particular country.

“These are the realities of the modern world, an objective reality that already occurs in more than half of the states on our planet,” Fedorov noted. If you take a contour map and color in the territories of those countries where criminal liability of legal entities takes place, you will see that most of the territory of all continents will be colored. And if you add up the population of these countries, then the majority of the world’s population lives in those countries in which criminal liability of legal entities is established. Russian lawyers are currently divided into two camps: supporters and opponents of such liability. But I consider myself, as some say, to be an apologist for the criminal liability of legal entities, and I consider it a great honor to be in this camp together with Anatoly Valentinovich. A number of lawyers are against it, but it seems to me that this confrontation is largely due to the fact that there is no common understanding of what criminal liability of legal entities is. And when there are disputes, everyone argues about their own, speaking about their understanding of this institution.

After the conference, Fedorov answered my question “does the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation support the idea” in the affirmative.