Punishment for abuse of authority (art. 285 RF CC): legislative determination and law practice

The author analyses the Article of the Criminal Code that provides responsibility for one of the most widely spread corruption crime, i.e. abuse of authority (Art. 285 RF CC). Statistic data on punishments imposed for such crimes for the period 2009-2013 published by the Court Department of the RF Supreme Court are studied. It is concluded that excessive mitigation of punishment and excessively liberal court decisions do not meet the demands for combating corruption declared by the state.