Preventive role of coercive measures in criminal justice

Abstract

The article reveals the role of criminal procedural coercion measures in stopping criminal offenses. On the basis of scientific works, the concept of termination of criminal offenses, the basis for the use and types of measures of criminal procedural coercion are defined. Termination of a crime is considered as the application of external influence measures to a person in order to deprive him of the opportunity to continue committing a crime, that is, to take measures to prevent the person from completing a criminal offense. If illegal behavior that has signs of a criminal offense is detected, coercive measures must be applied to the person in order to stop it. The current Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine does not contain the concept of criminal procedural coercion and a system of appropriate measures. Current legislation provides for the use of measures to ensure criminal proceedings, which, although not identical to coercive measures, are inherently associated with the use of coercion against the suspect, accused and defendant. Among the measures to ensure criminal proceedings provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, such as detention, temporary restriction in the use of special rights and seizure of documents certifying the use of special rights and removal from office play a preventive role. The author considers the detention of a person as a coercive measure aimed at suppressing a criminal offense, which is of a complex intersectoral nature. The content of detention is the physical capture of a person, restricting his freedom of movement, in order to prevent him from completing the criminal activity he has begun, which provides for the possibility of using physical force and special means against the person. Closely related to the detention of a person is another coercive measure aimed at stopping a criminal offense — a temporary restriction in the use of a special right and temporary seizure of documents certifying the use of a special right. Removal from office as a compulsory measure to terminate a criminal offense consists of temporarily preventing a suspect or accused from performing his or her labor (official) duties for a certain period of time in order to terminate a criminal offense, prevent unlawful behavior of a person who, while in office, may continue criminal activity.