Features of Criminal Responsibility of Minors in Russian Federation and a Number of Foreign Countries: Comparative Legal Analysis

This research is devoted to a comparative analysis of the Institute of criminal responsibility of minors in Russia and several foreign countries belonging to different legal systems. The relevance of the topic is confirmed, first of all, by the number of minors in the total number of convicts in the Russian Federation, as well as by the recurring discussion about the minimum age of criminal responsibility. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comparative legal analysis of the Institute of criminal responsibility of minors in the context of improving domestic legislation. The minimum age of criminal responsibility is considered in the example of 188 States. It was found that a single approach to setting the minimum border has not been developed – the range is from 7 to 18 years. At the same time, the border of 14-16 years is considered internationally acceptable – it was fixed by about 40% of States. The Institute of criminal responsibility of minors was considered on the example of Germany, Switzerland, England, Canada, China, including the Hong Kong Special administrative region, as well as Japan. In General, the countries considered fixing the institution of criminal responsibility of minors by fixing a specialized act that combines procedural and material norms. Also, all these States focus on the application of educational measures to minors, not punishment. Deprivation of liberty for minors is used only as a last resort. Having studied the legislation of several foreign countries, the author concluded that the institution of criminal responsibility of minors in Russia needs to be reformed. In particular, it is proposed to make changes: 1) in part 2 of article 87 of the Сriminal Сode of the Russian Federation – to establish the priority of educational measures and punishments alternative to imprisonment; 2) in part 2 of article 88 of the Сriminal Сode of the Russian Federation, to exclude the possibility of paying a fine by parents or other legal representatives; 3) in part 6 of article 88 of the Сriminal Сode of the Russian Federation – it is proposed to fix the minimum sentence in the form of imprisonment (1 month). In General, it is concluded that the existing system of punishments and educational measures needs to be reformed – the legislator needs to create greater variability to avoid the excessive imposition of imprisonment on minors and to promote greater individualization and differentiation of punishment.