Procedural discretion of the court when refusing to initiate criminal proceedings

Introduction: if we consider the content of procedural discretion of the court when refusing to initiate criminal cases, refusing petitions at the stage of preliminary investigation, these refusals are known to be able to be appealed in the district (federal) court (Part 5 of Article 144, Article 122, 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation). In these cases, the judicial review raises a question not only for the defense, but also for the court itself, which is what the actions and decisions of the preliminary investigation bodies in such refusals are and whether there are signs of tort in their actions when making such decisions. The author of this paper sets the goal of research, which is to consider the content of procedural discretion of the court in case of refusal to initiate criminal proceedings. Methods: the methodological framework for the research is the dialectical-materialistic method of cognition, which includes the elements of system analysis, and specific scientific methods, such as the logical and legal ones. Results: based on the legal analysis, the content of judicial discretion in case of refusal to initiate criminal proceedings is revealed. The paper raises a question related to the consideration of judicial discretion as a guarantee of the court’s activity at the pre-trial stages of the criminal process. Conclusions: it is revealed that the scheme of judicial discretion in the event of a complaint about the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings should be based on the criteria of judicial discretion at the stage of trial.