Procedure for exemption from punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided
Authors: Chugaievska A. 
Published: March 2020

Analysis of the criminal procedure for exemption from punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided; analysis of current status of the problem provided; the key problems and legislative gaps identified, and respective solutions developed. The study revealed that the procedure for exemption from the court-sentenced punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided, has no sufficiently and precise regulations in the criminal procedural legislation.

The goal of research is analyzing procedural order of exemption person from appointed sentence of court for action, the punishment of which is eliminated by law, identifying a range of problems which connects with procedural order of exemptions from the sentence imposed in connection with adoption of the law which eliminates the criminal act and amendment of improving current criminal procedural legislation.

In the framework of the analysis of the recent studies, researches and respective publications it has been examined the current status of the scientific researches of the issues on exemption from the court-sentenced punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided (part 2 of the Article 74 of the Criminal Code). The grounded conclusion reads that that the procedure for this type of exemption from the court-sentenced punishment is insufficiently studied.

Within the framework of implementing the tasks on analyzing the procedure for exemption from the court-sentenced punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided, detection a range of issues related to the procedure for exemption from the court-sentenced punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided and contributing recommendations for improvement of the current criminal procedural legislation, the following conclusions and recommendations were proposed.

In particular, the application of of legal act on decriminalization at the criminal proceedings does not require a specific regulations. However, the general procedure for examining issues while executing a sentence requires taking into account specific cases of exemption from court-sentenced punishment.

The ensuring of the prescribed by the Part 2 of Art. 74 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "immediate" release of a person from a punishment sentenced by a court, should be supported by improving the procedural terms of consideration of the petition for release and introduction of a separate regulations.

It is recommended to implement into the procedure a list of grounds (issues) that the court must consider during a trial and resolving the issue of release from punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided. In addition, it is appropriate in our opinion to oblige the court in deciding whether to release a person from punishment on the ground of legal act on decriminalization provided, while applying the exemption from punishment under Part 2 of Art. 74 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, to consider the issue of eradication of conviction the person who was sentenced.