Ar atidedant bausmės vykdymą už sunkius nusikaltimus yra pasiekiami bausmės tikslai?
Šeškas, Ugnius |
Šiame magistro baigiamajame darbe yra tiriamos bausmės tikslų įgyvendinimo galimybės ir problematika taikant bausmės vykdymo atidėjimo institutą sunkių nusikaltimų atvejais. Poreikį atlikti tokio pobūdžio tyrimą magistriniu lygmeniu paskatino šiek tiek daugiau nei prieš vienerius metus priimti Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamojo kodekso 75 str. 1 d. pakeitimai, išplečiantys galimybes teismams taikyti laisvės atėmimo bausmės vykdymo atidėjimą, t. y. nuteistiesiems ir už sunkaus tyčinio nusikaltimo padarymą, numatant reikalavimą, kad už tai turi būti paskirta ne ilgesnė nei 4 metų laisvės atėmimo bausmė. Tačiau turint omenyje, kad nusikaltimo priskyrimas sunkių nusikaltimų grupei savaime parodo didelį tokio nusikaltimo pavojingumo laipsnį, kyla klausimas ar bausmės vykdymo atidėjimo instituto taikymas tokiais atvejais pateisina bausmės paskirtį ir padeda užtikrinti nusikalstamumo prevenciją bei teisingumo principo įgyvendinimą? Todėl šiam darbui kėlėme tikslą – apibendrinant praktines bausmės vykdymo atidėjimo instituto taikymo tendencijas sunkių nusikaltimų atvejais įvertinti šio instituto taikymo perspektyvas bausmės tikslų kontekste. Tyrimo eigoje buvo susipažinta su teisės doktrina bausmės skyrimo klausimais, bausmių politikos formavimo tendencijomis, pakankamai giliai išanalizuota teismų praktika, kas visgi leido konstatuoti perspektyvias galimybes taikyti bausmės vykdymo atidėjimo institutą asmenims, nuteistiems už sunkius nusikaltimus. Tačiau atkreiptinas dėmesys, kad tai išimtinė bausmės įgyvendinimo forma, galima tada, kai bylos aplinkybių visuma neleidžia abejoti, jog laisvės atėmimo bausmė realiai gali būti neatliekama. Be to, turi būti atsižvelgiama į tai, ar kaltininkui yra galimybė paskirti sankcijoje numatytą kitą švelnesnę bausmę, nes tokiais atvejais pirmenybė turėtų būti teikiama būtent straipsnio sankcijoje numatytos švelnesnės bausmės skyrimui. Ir tik tuo atveju, kai BK specialiosios dalies straipsnio sankcija nenustato jokių alternatyvų laisvės atėmimo bausmei, įvertinus nusikaltimo padarymo aplinkybes ir kaltininko asmenybę, esant pakankamam pagrindui manyti, kad BK 41 str. numatyti bausmės tikslai gali būti pasiekti realiai jos neatliekant, galimas bausmės vykdymo atidėjimo taikymas.
In this master’s final work opportunities of carrying out the aims of punishment and problematics applying a suspended sentence in cases of serious crimes are researched. The legislator with attributing a specific crime as a serious crime pays attention to dangerousness of the crime and herewith expresses a strict attitude to such crimes. It is to be noted that in most of the cases only long-term imprisonment with a term to ten years is provided. Thus the person convicting a serious crime is informed in advance about the possible consequences with consolidating the prohibited actions and determining specific penalties in the law. The supporters of strict punishments are quite sceptical to any diminishing of criminal responsibility, especially in cases of serious and very serious crimes. According to them, determining inadequate punishments for such crimes distorts the nature of the serious crimes, does not discourage from committing such crimes and even creates situation when it is worth to commit a crime and it undermines the society’s confidence of the justice system. The opponents of this theory counters the arguments with aspiration to lower the number of prisoners, as Lithuania is among the countries having the most prisoners in European Union. Furthermore, in their opinion Lithuania this way is approaching to modern criminal law systems, with attitude that the compulsory attribution of the sentence is not primary, as the adequacy and effectiveness of the sentence and orientation to returning the guilty person to society are to be developed. The legislator with enacting the changes of section 1 of the 75 paragraph of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania (further in the text – the CC), from the 24th of March, 2015 expanded the opportunities for the courts to apply the suspended sentence. Previously the CC allowed to apply the suspended sentence only for crimes committed through negligence when the sentence had not been set higher than 6 years of imprisonment, also for minor and less serious crimes when the sentence had not been set higher than 4 years of imprisonment. After the changes of the law were enacted, it is allowed to suspend the sentence for a person sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years for the commission of a serious crime. The aim of these changes were to specify the rules for applying the imprisonment sentences and to reduce the number of imprisoned persons. But the question arises whether this aim justifies the purpose of punishment and helps to ensure the crime prevention and realization of the principle of justice. As the changes in the CC have been in force for more than a year already, it is interesting to research the courts practice and to analyse how frequently the suspended sentence is applied for the serious crimes and what are the arguments for such decisions. None the less that such researches have not been carried out yet. The goal of this work is to summarize the practical tendencies of applying the suspended sentence in cases of serious crimes and assess the aims of punishment to the perspectives of this institute. The tasks of this master’s final work: 1) to distinguish the most important criteria for applying the sentences in respect of the aim of punishment; 2) to define the premises for diminishing the legal status of persons convicted for serious crimes in respect to; 3) to identify the relation between the suspended sentence and the aim of punishment and to reveal the practical possibilities of this instituted and the main problems of carrying out the aims of the punishment. The methodology of the research. Various methods were applied during the research: logical, critical, teleological, linguistic, systematic, analytical etc. First of all, it this work were widely applied logical and critical methods. Using the logical method were formulated, systematized, specified abstract notions according to specific situation, logical contradictions were eliminated, made generalizations and conclusions. The critical method was not avoided – the court practice, academic opinions, the lack of argumentation these opinions were criticized. The operation with teleological method helped to comprehend intentions of the legislator. On the basis of the linguistic method the notion of punishment is analysed on purpose to reveal its purpose. Also the systematic method was applied in the work for determining the relationship between different norms and structuring the material. The main empirical method was applied for the analysis of the court practice. At the beginning of the research the hypothesis that the aims of punishment can be achieved if the suspended sentence is applied in cases of serious crimes was raised. During the course of preparing the master’s final work the tasks of the work were accomplished, the goal was achieved and ascertained that there are perspective possibilities to suspend the sentence for persons convicted for serious crimes. However it is important to have in view that it is an exclusive form for implementing the punishment, possible in cases when the circumstances prohibits doubts that the imprisonment can be changed to suspended sentence. Furthermore, it has to be taken to the account whether there is any possibility to apply milder sentence as in such cases the priority has to be provided for milder sentences. Only in cases where there is no other sentence provided in the sanction of the specific crime in the CC, after evaluation of the crime situation and personality of the perpetrator and if there is a sufficient ground for conclusion that the aims of punishment, provided in the 41st paragraph of the CC, can be achieved without imprisonment, the suspended sentence ca be applied.