The elements of criminal legal science (theoretical and retrospective analysis)

In the life of science, as well as in the life of society, there is no smooth, quiet development. The old views struggle with the new ones and provoke counter theories. As a result, something is rejected, and something is accepted and declared the truth. The development of criminal legal science is also not exception. It went through several formations, varying both in its form and content. The reform movements proved to be especially severe in the 19-20th centuries. In the 19th the following idea is fixed - the theory of criminal law is the legal discipline that studies the crime and punishment as purely legal concepts, puts the science in the strict framework and highlights its formal character. In the 20th century the theoretical ideas were divided into two directions: some of them proved the need to unite the criminal legal science and other sciences, and the others tried to expand its boundaries and to set weak connections with other sciences. The academic research and practice allow developing the system of elements of criminal law, taking into account the historical experience and modern realia. This system consists of the criminal dogma, as the expression of the need for studying and organizing the material contained in the criminal legislation, a regulatory framework, a theory; the criminal legal policy, as the need for critical attitude to the existing phenomena, and as a result - work on their improvement; etiology, as the need for research on the causes of crime. Crime is the consequence of some reasons; one cannot change the consequence without revealing and effecting the reasons.