On Sub‑Institutions of Exemption from Criminal Liability and Punishment Applicable to Military Personnel
Sipyagin N.A. On sub‑institutions of exemption from criminal liability and punishment applicable to military personnel. Penitentiary Science, 2026, vol. 20, no. 3 (75), pp. 288–295. doi 10.46741/2713-2811.2026.75.3.007.
In light of recent legislative changes, the theoretical understanding of legal norms on
exemption from criminal liability and punishment for military personnel has gained greater significance.
These norms have acquired new specific features, the study of which will help to better understand
the current state of military criminal law and identify trends in its development, which is important
in the context of the growing militarization of society. Purpose: to identify the key characteristics
that consolidate the provisions on exemption for military personnel into distinct sub‑institutions.
Methods: the author has used materials from judicial practice and theoretical sources and relies on
the following methods of scientific cognition: comparative‑legal (to compare the provisions devoted
to exemption from criminal liability and punishment of military personnel in domestic criminal law);
formal‑legal (to interpret the norms under study); systematization (to classify the features that unite
the specified norms into sub‑institutions); analysis (to study individual elements of legal norms);
synthesis (to combine the data into a coherent picture of the research subject). Results: the author
has determined 3 specific features of the rules on exemption from criminal liability and punishment
for military personnel; the emergence of a legal basis for exemption during the period of military
service; the dependence of the conditions for exemption on the occurrence of special periods;
and the socio‑legal prerequisites related to ensuring the armed defense of the state. Conclusions:
encouraging people to enlist in military service, providing legal guarantees, motivating them to fulfil
their military duty, and granting exemption from service in the event of loss of fitness have not only
criminal‑legal but also military‑political significance. Practical significance: the substantiation of the
new intra‑institutional specifics of the norms on the exemption of military personnel can be taken into
account in law‑making and scientific activities.
Keywords: military personnel; sub‑institutions; performance of military service; special periods; formal grounds for exemption; criminal liability; punishment; incentive norms; armed protection of the state.
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