They will answer for landings – Newspaper Kommersant No. 29 (7474) dated 02/16/2023

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation demanded that the chairmen of regional courts give an explanation of law enforcement practice by March 1, in which more than 35% of defendants in criminal cases are sentenced to real terms of imprisonment. This was stated by Deputy Chairman and Head of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases Vladimir Davydov at a meeting of judges in Moscow. He made it clear that the Supreme Court (SC) seriously took up the correction of law enforcement practice in criminal cases. In the matter of humanizing justice, judges are expected to take initiative and be creative.

The number of the Russian prison population, although it has decreased over the past 20 years, still does not meet global practice and the principles of humanism enshrined in the Russian Constitution, Deputy Chairman of the Armed Forces Vladimir Davydov stated, speaking on February 15 to the participants of the meeting of judges. “And immediately an unnecessary question arises – what to do? And you need to think, you need to analyze, perhaps somewhere to change approaches to law enforcement, ”he instructed.

For example, last year 177,000 people, or 29% of all convicts, were sentenced to actual imprisonment. Another 159,000 people, or 26%, received a suspended sentence. It is not the figure itself that causes concern, but its stability, Mr. Davydov explained: while the share of minor crimes increased from 20% to half of the total, the number of those sentenced to imprisonment did not decrease and even increased by 1.6%.

The Supreme Court also drew attention to the fact that the practice of “planting” varies greatly depending on the region. Thus, record figures were recorded in the Saratov region, where 41.2% of all convicts were sentenced to real imprisonment, in the Tula region – 41%, in Moscow – 37.9%. But in Dagestan, only 15% of all convicts were sent to jail, in Chechnya – 16%, in Kalmykia – 20%, and even in the capital St. Petersburg, only 24.5%. “You can work and not drive up to 40%,” Mr. Davydov was surprised.

It also turned out that even neighboring regions can show sharp differences in the statistics of “landings”. “Tula region – 41%, in the neighboring Ryazan region – 21%. Well, how can this be? – the deputy chairman of the Armed Forces was perplexed. – What is the result? The chances of thundering to the fanfare in the Tula and Saratov regions of the average defendant are twice as high as in the Ryazan and Tambov regions. Doesn’t this contradict the constitutional principle of the equality of all before the law and the courts?

“Diversified statistics” led the leadership of the Supreme Court to the idea that much here depends on the subjective position of the leaders of the courts. Therefore, the leading regions in terms of the number of “landings” are asked to carefully analyze the practice and “take measures.” Next year, those who will be above 30% will be asked for explanations, Mr. Davydov promised. “We cannot send you a plan for the types of punishment from Moscow,” he said. “Nobody has ever done this and will not do it. We bring trends to you. But if the national average is 20%, and yours is 40%, you probably need to think that something is wrong.”

The Supreme Court also recommends not to abuse conditional sentences, opting for a non-custodial sentence. And in general, to make wider use of the “humanitarian opportunities of the Criminal Code”: according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, the number of places in correctional centers was increased to 40 thousand, and only 14.5 thousand of them are occupied. A significant reserve is the practice of imposing a preventive measure: if a person is not brought to prison under investigation, then he is much less likely to get there, Mr. Davydov argued. “Our task is to ensure that this idea of ​​humanization, as the classics used to say, takes over the masses. And first of all – the higher judicial instances. Otherwise, the judges of the first tier will begin to humanize, and the judges of the regional level, on the proposal of the prosecutor’s office, will immediately cover up this humanization.”

Sociologist of law Kirill Titaev explains that the courts do not work autonomously – they deal with what the law enforcement system gives them. And here one can observe serious gaps in the structure of crime in different regions – it is natural that they are reflected in judicial statistics. In fact, the Russian court is even now much more humane than the legislator, the expert is sure. Within the limits of their discretion, the courts are not exactly atrocious, he explains; on the contrary, in most cases, the punishment is much lower than that which the legislator laid down. However, one must understand that when they talk about the humanization of justice, they mean, first of all, the size and type of punishment. The idea that the courts should justify does not occur to anyone at all, Mr. Titaev notes. That is, from the point of view of the decision-making elites, the court is a body that establishes punishment, but does not in any way determine someone’s guilt. So it is hardly worth expecting radical changes in this regard, the expert concludes.

Anastasia Kornya