Memory of crime and its representation in criminal law

Introduction. The law enforcement system reacts to crimes only as to events of the past, and in the criminal procedure law (Part 2 of Article 74 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation), the testimony of eyewitnesses (witnesses) and participants in a criminal conflict (suspect or accused, victim) is called the primary evidence in the case. Thus, the completeness and accuracy of the description of the criminal event by these persons depends to a significant extent on their memory. Parliamentary legislation should take into account public opinion and the will of the country's population, as the Constitution (Article 3) declares the people to be the bearers of sovereignty and the sole source of power, exercising it both directly and through state and local government bodies. The natural foundation of parliamentary legislation as an indirect form of popular rule is provided by mass legal education, which also involves the use of memory mechanisms, but not individual memory, but social memory. Consequently, the phenomenon of memory can and should be used to assess the quality of sectoral lawmaking, criminal prosecution, and crime prevention.

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to compare the criminal liability of individuals for long-term and multi-stage crimes, as well as the retroactive force of criminal law, convictions, amnesties, and pardons used by the state, with individual and collective (social and historical) memory in order to improve the practice of combating crime.

Theoretical foundations of the research is based on the works of ancient thinkers, as well as contemporary foreign and domestic philosophers, historians, sociologists, political scientists, philologists, and cultural experts who specialize in the study of memory, mnemonics (attention and memorization), and the forgetting of events, facts, and other information. The author has identified the institutions of criminal law that are most closely related to and rely on (or should be related to and rely on) the perceptions, expectations, and demands of the population, which are influenced by the information they receive about crime and the government's response to it. He took into account and critically evaluated both the relevant provisions of industry legislation and the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and a large group of scientists.

Results. It has been established that the phenomenon of individual and collective (historical, social) memory has long been actively discussed and evaluated in many areas of the humanities, but primarily in the field of psychology. The article examines the different types of memory, the dependence of its volume and quality on the processes of memorization, forgetting, and archetyping. It also considers the similarities and differences between social memory and historical science. The article highlights and supports the prevailing scientific view that the identification function of a nation's historical memory is particularly important. The study showed that: the public and scientific attitude towards memory goes through alternating periods of increased attention and decline; the issue is currently relevant due to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and the ongoing special military operation; information about tragic eras in the history of states is most firmly retained in people's memories; high-profile criminal events and crime in general generate the most interest compared to legal life in other areas of jurisprudence; memory issues are practically not studied in criminal law.

Conclusions. At the end of the article, a conclusion is presented in the form of seven points, the main of which is the assertion that human memory is a vast storehouse of experience, a universal means of identification and unity of ethnic groups, and that it has the ability to elevate criminal law, including through the institutions of guilt, retroactivity of the law, criminal record, amnesty and pardon, and statute of limitations. Criminal law experts should develop and offer the state technologies for accounting for social memory in order to more fully reflect the field of crime prevention.

1. Diogenes Laertius. On the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers / USSR Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy; General Ed. and he will join. article by A. F. Losev. Moscow: Mysl, 1979. 620 p. (In Russ.)

2. Dushenko K.V. The Big Book of aphorisms. Moscow: Eksmo, 1999. 1056 p. (In Russ.)

3. Taranov P.S. The wisdom of three millennia. Moscow: AST Publishing House, 1999. 736 p. (In Russ.)

4. History, philosophy, principles and methods of human rights work: A collection of materials from the seminar of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Issue 1. Moscow: INTU; 1995. 105 p. (In Russ.)

5. Short psychological dictionary. Moscow: Politizdat; 1985. 431 p. (In Russ.)

6. Historical memory and Russian identity / ed. by V.A. Tishkov, E.A. Pivneva. Moscow; 2018. 508 p. (In Russ.)

7. Solomina I.Y. Social memory: structure and phenomena: Abstract. dissertation of the Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. Samara: Samara State University, 2005. 22 p. (In Russ.)

8. Lebedeva G.V. Memory and oblivion as cultural phenomena: Abstract. dissertation of the Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. Ekaterinburg: Ural State University named after A.M. Gorky; 2006. 25 p. (In Russ.)

9. Shnirelman V.A. Social memory: questions of theory. In: Historical memory and Russian identity / ed. by V.A. Tishkov, E.A. Pivneva. Moscow: RAS; 2018. 508 p. Pp. 12-34. (In Russ.)

10. Bernal J. Science in the history of society. Translated from English by A.M. Vyazmina et al.; General editorship by B. M. Kedrov, I. V. Kuznetsov. Moscow: Inostr. literature, 1956. 735 p. (In Russ.)

11. Leonid Shebarshin. Chronicles of timelessness. Aphorisms of the chief of Soviet intelligence. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf; 2018. 223 p. (In Russ.)

12. Shchegolev P.E. Peter Grigorievich Kakhovsky. Moscow: Alcyone; 1916. 153 p. (In Russ.)

13. Koni A.F. Memory and attention. In: Collected works in 8 volumes. Vol. 4. Moscow: Yurid. literature, 1967. 543 p. (In Russ.)

14. Criminal law course. The general part. Volume 1: The Doctrine of Crime. Textbook for universities edited by N.F. Kuznetsova and I.M. Tyazhkova. Moscow: IKD "Zertsalo", 2002. 661 p. (In Russ.)

15. Criminal law. The experience of theoretical modeling / Ed. by V.N. Kudryavtsev, S.G. Kelina. Moscow: Nauka; 1987. 278 p. (In Russ.)

16. Wertsch J.V. Voices of collective remembering. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press; 2002. 203 p.

17. Connerton P. How societies remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1989. 121 p.

18. Kashchenko T.L., Polozhentseva I.V., Piloyan M.G. The phenomenon of historical memory in the 21st century. Journal of Historical Research. 2019;4(1):46–50. (In Russ.)

19. International protection of human rights and freedoms: A collection of documents / [Comp. and auth. introductory article by G.M. Melkov]. Moscow: Yurid. lit., 1990. (In Russ.)

20. Tagantsev N.S. Russian criminal law: lectures: General part: [in 2 volumes]; [comp. and ed. by N.I. Zadorodnikov]. Moscow: Nauka, 1994. Vol. I. 419 p. (In Russ.)

21. Boytsov A.I., Volzhenkin B.V. Criminal law: action in time and space: The training manual. St. Petersburg: Higher Education Institute. the qualification. Prosecutor. -investigations. workers, 1993. 104 p. (In Russ.)

22. Yakubov A.E. The retroactive force of the criminal law: Some problems of improving the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. St. Petersburg: Law Center Press, 2003. 206 p. (In Russ.)

23. Guliev V.E., Kravtsov G.A. The effect of law in time and space: Rec. in: Tillet A.A. Time, space, law. Moscow, 1969. 201 p. Soviet state and law. 1966;(7). (In Russ.)

24. Beccaria Ch. About crimes and punishments. Moscow: "Stealth-BIMPA"; 1995. 304 p. (In Russ.)

25. Klenova T. V. Principles of criminal law and principles of codification. State and law. 1997;(1):54–59. (In Russ.)

26. Criminal law: Textbook. – 4th ed., reprint. – Moscow: Legal publishing house, 1948 (type. "Kr. The Proletarian"). 576 p. (In Russ.)

27. Zoshchenko M.M. Selected works: In 2 volumes. Leningrad: Artist. lit.; Leningrad Publishing House, 1968, vol. 2. 464 p. (In Russ.)

28. Sazhenkov Yu.V., Seliverstov V.I. Legal problems of pardon in Russia: textbook. – 2nd ed., supplement. Moscow: Jurisprudence; 2008. 168 p. (In Russ.)

29. Tagantsev N.S. Russian criminal law. General part: lectures by N.S. Tagantsev, Dr. Ugolov. Rights: in 2 volumes. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: State Printing House; 1902. Pp. 816-1460. (In Russ.)

30. Osherovich B.S. Essays on the history of Russian criminal law thought (2nd half of the 18th century – 1st quarter of the 19th century). Moscow: Legal Publishing House, 1946. 312 p. (In Russ.)

31. Kudryavtsev V.N., Nikiforov B.S. Restriction of rights under the draft basic principles of criminal legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics. The Soviet State and law. 1958;(7):112–114. (In Russ.)

32. Piontkovsky A. A. Basic issues of criminal law in the draft basic principles of criminal legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics. The Soviet State and law. 1958;(9). (In Russ.)

33. Romashkin P.S. The main problems of codification of the Soviet criminal legislation. The Soviet State and law. 1957;(5). (In Russ.)

34. Ninel Kuznetsova. The opinion of scientists on the reform of the Criminal Code (or qui prodest?). Criminal law. 2004;(1):26–27. (In Russ.)

35. Shautaeva G.S. Criminal record in the criminal law of Russia and its legal significance: Abstract of the dissertation. ... kand. jurid. sciences'. Izhevsk: Udmurt State University; 2000. 28 p. (In Russ.)

36. Lapatukhin M.S. et al. School explanatory dictionary of the Russian language: A guide for students / Edited by F.P. Filin. Moscow: Prosveshchenie; 1981. 463 p. (In Russ.)

37. Criminological foundations of criminal law: Proceedings of the X Russian Congress of Criminal Law, held on May 26-27, 2016 / ed., doc. jurid. V.S. Komissarov. Moscow: Legal-litinform; 2016. 568 p. (In Russ.)

38. Historical and Critical dictionary in two volumes. General ed. and an article by V.M. Boguslavsky will enter. Translated from French Moscow: "Mysl"; 1967. Vol. 1. 391 p. (In Russ.)

39. Historical and Critical dictionary in two volumes. General ed. and an article by V.M. Boguslavsky will enter. / Translated from French. Moscow: Mysl; 1968. Vol. 2. 510 p. (In Russ.)

40. Torvalda J. "One hundred years of criminology" (another version of the name is "The Century of criminology". Moscow: Progress; 1984. 203 p. (In Russ.)

41. Kelina S.G. Theoretical issues of exemption from criminal liability. Moscow: Nauka; 1974. 232 p. (In Russ.)

42. Durmanov N. D. Amnesty – a state legal act. The Soviet State and law. 1976;(5-6):47–50. (In Russ.)

43. Public opinion on crime and measures to combat it (Collection of scientific papers). Moscow: All-Union. institute for the study of Causes and Development. Crime Prevention Measures; 1977. 84 p. (In Russ.)

44. Kokin A.V., Kokin A.A. The Golden Section and evolution (an introduction to the general theory of nonlocal evolution). Moscow: Inform-Pravo LLC; 2022. 232 p. (In Russ.)

45. Chernyak E.B. Chimeras of the old world. From the history of psychological warfare. Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya; 1970. 272 p. (In Russ.)