And again about the accusatory bias of Russia's criminal justice system

Introduction. There is no more indisputable issue in the Russian science of criminal procedure than the existence of an accusatory bias in the criminal proceedings of the Russian Federation. The basis for this statement is the long-standing judicial practice, according to which the courts issue less than 0.5% of acquittals from the total number of criminal cases considered.

Purpose. To conduct a comparative analysis between the two models of the criminal process: 1) mixed (established in Russia) and 2) accusatory-adversarial (Anglo-Saxon).

Theoretical Basis. The number of acquittals in Anglo-Saxon criminal proceedings is significantly higher than in Russian criminal proceedings. The courts of the Anglo-Saxon system issue more acquittals than the courts of the mixed model of criminal proceedings because there is no rigidly formalized preliminary investigation in the Anglo-Saxon criminal process. In the vast majority of cases in the Anglo-Saxon trial, the prosecution and the defense make a deal: the accused admits his guilt, and the prosecutor for this removes part of the charge or reclassifies it to a less serious one. In this case, the judge in his verdict only certifies the existence of the transaction and the amount of punishment. In Russia, a large number of acquittals means that many innocent people are involved as defendants and appear as defendants in court proceedings, which contradicts the purpose of criminal proceedings, which presuppose the refusal to prosecute innocent people (Part 2 of Article 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). This statement should not be understood as a call to abandon the imposition of acquittal sentences in general. Criminal proceedings, like any other activity, cannot be without errors, but their percentage should not be large.

Results and conclusions. The accusatory bias of Russian criminal proceedings should be eliminated, but not by switching to the Anglo-Saxon adversarial model, which is inconsistent with the traditions of the domestic criminal process. It is necessary to ensure that comprehensive, complete and objective research is conducted and that those who have actually committed crimes are brought to justice, which will be consistent with the purpose of Russian criminal justice. Acquittals are one of the most important indicators of fair justice and a guide for analyzing mistakes made by investigative bodies.

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