Significantly about the Insignificant: Practice of Applying Part 2 of Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (In-Depth Analysis of the Problem)
Kolokolov N.A. Significantly about the insignificant: practice of applying Part 2 of Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (in-depth analysis of the problem). Penitentiary Science. 2024. vol. 18, no. 2 (66), pp. 145–155. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2024.66.2.004.
this publication continues the research of the paired category “significant –
insignificant” in criminal law, covered in the previous issue of the journal. It is carried out through
the prism of requirements imposed by society on criminal proceedings. Purpose: to more deeply
study some theoretical aspects of the problem, to get closer to understanding the essence of
some aspects of judicial discretion, and to analyze reviews of the latest judicial practice. Methods:
historical, comparative legal, dialectical cognition, analysis and synthesis. Results: the criminal law
doctrine of insignificance is studied in detail. Four relatively independent periods of its evolution (prerevolutionary (1845–1917), post-revolutionary (1917–1958), developed socialism (1958–1991) and
post-soviet (since 1991)) are identified. The institution of “small size” (1965–1982) is criticized. The
author analyses situations when courts at the precedent level, “torpedoing” the severity of the crimes
indicated by the legislator, seek options to release certain persons both from criminal liability and
criminal punishment. The author comes to the following conclusions: there is no single interpretation
of the concepts of significant and insignificant in the theory of Russian criminal law; since algorithms
for the application of Part 2 of Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as
similar criminal legal regulations (for example, Part 6 of Article 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian
Federation) are still developing, in which a dispute inevitably arises about the significance of what
has been done, society has to rely on the level of interpretation art of a particular judge. A growing
number of lawyers propose to bring the problem of the insignificance of an act to the discussion
of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. In subsequent articles, the reader
will be offered a substantive analysis of the practice of applying Part 2 of Article 14 of the Criminal
Code of the Russian Federation contained in the decisions of the First General Jurisdiction Court of
Cassation.
Keywords: insignificance of an act (Part 2 of Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation); paired categories; criminal law; fundamental principle of law; freedom of judicial choice; public danger; punitive law; offense; offense provided for by the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation; criminal misconduct; virtual (alleged) benefit of punishment; real social harm of punishment; judicial practice; unity of judicial practice.
Russian Federation (general description of the problem). Penitentsiarnaya nauka = Penitentiary Science, 2024, vol. 18,
no. 1 (65), pp. 21–31. (In Russ.).
2. Golovko L.V. Consolidation of sectoral principles in codified acts: a pedagogical technique or a legal instrument? Zakon
= Law, 2020, no. 6, pp. 21–33. (In Russ.).
3. Kolokolov N.A. Organization of justice in a post-industrial society. In: Khabrieva T.Ya., Lazarev V.V. Pravo i zakon v
programmiruemom obshchestve (k 100-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya Daniela Bella): sb. nauch. st. [Law and legislation in a
programmable society (to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Bell): collection of scientific articles]. Moscow, 2020.
368 p.
4. Bulgakov S.N. Izbrannoe [Selected Works]. Moscow, 2010. 736 p.
5. Kont-Sponvil’ A. Filosofskii slovar’ [Philosophical dictionary]. Moscow, 2012. 752 p.
6. Bekaria Ch. O prestupleniyakh i nakazaniyakh [On crimes and punishments]. Moscow, 1939. 183 p.
7. Krylova Ya. E. Osnovnye cherty novogo Ugolovnogo kodeksa Frantsii [The main features of the new Criminal Code of
France]. Moscow, 1996. 123 p.
8. Tagantsev N.S. Lektsii po russkomu ugolovnomu pravu. Chast’ obshchaya. Vyp. 1 [Lectures on Russian criminal law.
General Part. Issue 1]. Saint Petersburg, 1887. 398 p.
9. Tagantsev N.S. Russkoe ugolovnoe pravo. Lektsii. Chast’ obshchaya. V 2 t. T. 1 [Russian criminal law. Lectures. General
Part. In 2 vols. Volume 1]. Moscow, 1994. 380 p.
10. Kolokolov N.A. UAZ poacher: The Judicial Board for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation,
not without reason, doubted the legality and validity of the verdict issued by the justice of the Peace under part 2 of Article
114 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to the huntsman. Mirovoi sud’ya = Justice of the Peace, 2023,
no. 1, pp. 2–12. (In Russ.).
11. Shershenevich G.F. Obshchaya teoriya prava [General theory of law]. Moscow, 1910. 806 p.
12. Gadzhiev Kh. I. Judicial doctrines as a result of general scientific and concrete knowledge of law: monograph. In: Serkov
P.P., Lazarev V.V., Gadzhiev Kh.I. (Eds.). Sudebnye doktriny v rossiiskom prave: teoriya i praktika [Judicial doctrines in
Russian law: theory and practice]. Moscow, 2021. 344 p. (In Russ.).
13. Kurskii D.I. Izbrannye stati i rechi [Selected articles and speeches]. Moscow, 1958. 330 p.
14. Pervyi Ugolovnyi kodeks RSFSR: kontseptual’nye osnovy i obshchaya kharakteristika (k 100-letiyu so dnya prinyatiya)
[The First Criminal Code of the RSFSR: conceptual foundations and general characteristics (to the 100th anniversary of its
adoption)]. Ed. by Savenkov A.N. Moscow, 2023. 240 p.
15. Piontkovskii A.A. Kurs sovetskogo ugolovnogo prava. V 6 t. Chast’ obshchaya. T. II [Course of Soviet criminal law. In 6
volumes. General Part. Vol. II]. Moscow, 1970. 248 p.
16. Marx K. The trial against the Rhine District Committee of Democrats. Marx’s Speech. In: Marks K., Engels F. Soch.
v 29 t. T. 6 [Essays in 29 volumes. Volume 6]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1930. 567 p.
17. Domakhin S.A. The concept of crime. In: Belyaev N.A., Shargorodskii M.D. Kurs sovetskogo ugolovnogo prava.
V 5 t. Chast’ Obshchaya. T. 1 [Course of Soviet criminal law. In 5 volumes. General Part. Volume 1]. Leningrad, 1981. 646 p.
18. Kommentarii k Ugolovnomu kodeksu RSFSR [Commentary on the Criminal Code of the RSFSR]. Ed. by Karpets I.I.
Moscow, 1971. 560 p.
19. Marx K. The debate over the law on forest theft. In: Marks K., Engels F. Soch. v 50 t. T. 1 [Essays in 50 volumes. Volume
1]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1955. 723 p.
20. Kolokolov N.A. Dynamics of the grammar of law and order: from K. Marx’s early work “The debate over the law on
forest theft” to a new agenda in modern criminal policy. In: Khabrieva T.Ya. (Ed.). Pravo, zakon i sud v rannikh trudakh Karla
Marksa (k 20-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya K. Marska) [Law, legislation and court in the early writings of Karl Marx (to the 20th
anniversary of the birth of K. Marsk)]. Moscow, 2019. 304 p.
21. Nazarova L.L., Romanovskaya V.B. The reason for administrative offenses: in relation to the problem of petty theft.
Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. N. I. Lobachevskogo. Ser. “Pravo” = Bulletin of Nizhny
Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevskii. 2000, no. 1, pp. 152–161. (In Russ.).
22. Aschrott P.S. Strafensystemen und Gefengnisswesen in England. Berlin u. Leipzig, 1887. 243 p.
23. Slizberg G. Prison in England. Yuridicheskii vestnik = Legal Bulletin. 1888, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 104–133. (In Russ.).
24. Kudryavtsev V.N. Strategii bor’by s prestupnost’yu [Strategies for combating crime]. Moscow, 2003. 352 p.
25. Kuznetsova N.F. Signs (properties) of a crime. In: Entsiklopediya ugolovnogo prava. T. 3. Ponyatie prestupleniya
[Encyclopedia of Criminal Law. Volume 3. Concept of a crime]. Saint Petersburg, 2005. 524 p.
26. Frister G. Ugolovnoe pravo Germanii. Obshchaya chast’ [Criminal law of Germany. General Part]. Moscow, 2013. 712 p.
