Use of evaluative concepts in the context of reforming the Russian criminal procedure legislation

Introduction: the article identifies the difficulties that invariably arise for law enforcement officers when implementing legal prescriptions containing evaluative concepts. It is noted that for a long time, contrary to the warnings of scientists, the number of evaluative concepts that are very widely used in the criminal procedure law remains almost unchanged. At the same time, the methods of legal technique designed to simplify their interpretation and application are actually ignored by the legislator. Materials and methods: the normative basis of the prepared article is formed by the provisions of the Russian criminal procedure legislation containing evaluative concepts. The paper uses the conclusions of scientists who have conducted research on similar issues in the general theory of law, as well as in criminal, civil, and arbitration law. The methodological basis of the research is the dialectical method of cognition of social phenomena and processes, which allows us to assess the dynamics of their change and development. The paper uses general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition of social reality. Results of the study allowed us to identify the current state of the problem of the use of evaluative concepts in criminal procedure legislation, to identify some problems that make it difficult to operate with them in law enforcement practice. Findings and Conclusions: according to the results of the study, the conclusion is formulated that it is impossible to completely abandon the use of evaluative concepts in the criminal procedure law. At the same time, attention is drawn to the unwillingness of the domestic legislator to use the techniques of legal technology that make it possible to simplify the application of evaluative concepts, avoid their arbitrary interpretation by the law enforcement officer, exclude or minimize the adoption of unjustified procedural decisions, violation of the rights of participants in criminal proceedings.