The dissertation is the first research in the Ukrainian criminal law doctrine in which
release from punishment in connection with a serious somatic illness and in connection
with a mental illness is investigated comprehensively and covers all stages of emergence
and detection of a disease in the criminal law sense of compassionate release.
Scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time: the peculiarities
of the influence of previous legislative experience on the normative construction of the
investigated grounds for release from punishment are revealed, namely the norms of the
historical aspect of Art. 84 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; a comparison of the norms of
criminal law, which provide for release from punishment in connection with another
serious illness and release of servicemen due to their unsuitable for military service due to
health reasons, as a result, the norms were inconsistent, and the privileged position of
servicemen compared to civilian patients was not justified, which allowed to suggest ways
to solve this problem, namely to apply exemption of servicemen from punishment
provided in part 3 cases of commiting a criminal offenses which is an element of war
crimes and the establishment of a differentiated approach by determining the gravity of a
criminal offense; the peculiarities of exemption from punishment in connection with a
mental disorder have been determined, it has been proved that the time of onset of a
mental disorder may entail various criminal consequences, while the time of onset of
another serious illness has no criminal significance; a new type of conditional release from
serving a sentence for persons suffering from another serious illness is proposed, taking
into account the severity of the committed criminal offense and their characteristics from the places of serving the sentence and consent to voluntarily undergo treatment; proposed
ways to improve criminal law in terms of involving a person in further serving a sentence
in case of recovery, namely, identified a range of authorities that are required to notify the
recovery of a person released from punishment , proposed a mechanism for cooperation
between government agencies and institutions to control persons compassionate release,
argued the need to enshrine in the criminal law rules on the obligation of the released
person to register with the relevant health authority in accordance with the disease;
proposed restrictions that should be provided for the re-release of a person from
punishment due to illness, including a ban on re-release from punishment due to illness of
a person who has previously committed a serious or particularly serious crime and again
committed one of these crimes, if the conviction for previously committed crimes is not
repaid in the manner prescribed by law. Serious or especially serious crimes should not be
considered crimes against the life and health of a person for which it is proposed not to
apply the institution of compassionate release.
The recommendations developed in the dissertation should be used in the
educational process and practical activity of the units of the National Police of Ukraine, as
evidenced by the relevant acts of implementation.
The relevance of the scientific research lies in the fact that the regulatory
confirmation in the criminal law and the implementation of release from punishment in
practice are important aspects of criminal policy as the differentiation of punishment
involves not only penalties, as public danger increases, but also mitigation or complete
release from punishment, depending on the achievement of the goals of punishment
established in the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is important and necessary not only to
apply repressive measures, but also to select from the total number of convicted people for
whom punishment can not only provide a preventive effect, but also serve as a basis for a
serious threat to their lives and health.
The current legislation combines the severity of punishment for people who pose a
great public danger and at the same time - provides various measures to mitigate and
release from punishment or further serving of the sentence, if the nature and degree of
public danger of the person who committed a crime, partially or completely eliminated. Among the above measures, an important place is occupied by the criminal-legal norm
that provides compassionate release (Article 84 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) which
reflects the principle of humanism and ensures the economy of criminal repression.
