Реформы права и уголовного процесса в России и их влияние на криминалистику

Abstract

After 1990, Russia undertook a massive transformation in its view of social order. When a state proclaims that it is subject to its own laws, it has to support the validity of that proclamation by guaranteeing an impartial and independent judiciary. Russia is in the throes of transforming its judicial and law systems. Significant attempts have been made to establish an independent judiciary that conforms to the rule of law and democratic principles. In 1996, a new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was introduced. Today the criminal situation is different. Russia is fighting against terrorism, corruption and other serious crimes. That is why it is necessary to reform criminal law in an appropriative manner. On July 1, 2002 the 2001 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation went into effect. The new Code was significant because it introduces several changes to the criminal procedural process that did not exist in the old model. There are two prominent changes: judicial supervision at the pretrial stage and an adversarial process during the trial. The author discusses this and others important changes relating to the reality and perspectives of Russian criminal procedure. In the article some new tendencies in the development of Russian criminalistics are also identified and discussed.