The legal status of the victim - the employee of the penal system: from state to deficiency

The article provides a comparative analysis of the legal status of the penal officer as a victim. The subject of the research are problems of criminal law protection of the penal officer. The author reveals in detail the issues of ensuring a balance of security in the systems “officer of the penal system - citizen”, “employee of the penal system - law enforcement officers of other categories”, observance of the principle of fairness in the construction of these rules. In addition the article discusses the importance of the employee of the penal system as a special victim, the specifics of his legal status including in relation to the basic norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A brief historical retrospective of the emergence of the protection of state representatives in criminal law is given. As a result the author concludes that the employee of the penal system is not sufficiently protected, fails to comply with the requirements of justice, that the burden of the employee’s compliance with the stipulated measures of responsibility and that the system of norms for protecting equal amounts of benefits of the representatives of the law enforcement agencies is incomplete. The article offers options for overcoming this situation.

Keywords: criminal law protection; penal officer; legal limits of protection; special victim; disorganization of penal institutions.