The stage of execution of a sentence in the light of the Supreme Court plenum decree of December 20, 2011 №21 “On the practice in the court application of legislation on execution of a sentence”

Introduction: The article deals with controversial issues related to the theory of criminal law and criminal process. The purpose of the article is to analyze and compare the norms of the Russian Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Supreme Court Plenum Decree No. 21 of December 20, 2011. Methodology: A set of methods of scientific cognition, with the dialectical method as the major one, underlies the methodological framework of the study. The author uses both general scientific methods (dialectics, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and concretization) and methods specific to the legal science (comparative law research and technical legal method), with an emphasis on the comparative and systemic research methods. Results: The author maintains that the consideration and resolution of issues related to execution of a sentence is performed in the form of justice. The article defines the concept, purpose and objectives of criminal penalty; the author indicates that imposing a penalty is an independent and very important stage in the application of criminal law in the framework of criminal proceedings. Unlike laws of other countries, in the Russian criminal law the range of penalties is rather extensive, which creates sufficient leeway for the court to individualize the punishment. The article raises the problem of the participation of the convict at the stage of execution of a sentence. The author specifies that the provisions of Part 1 of Article 399 of the Criminal Procedure Code do not restrict the right of a convicted person to appeal to the court with a request to change the type of correctional institution appointed by the judgment of the court (Part 3 of Article 397 of the Code), to replace the unserved part of the sentence period with a more lenient type of penalty (Part 5 of Article 397 of the Code), to vacate suspended sentence and expunge his/her conviction (Part 7 of Article 397 of the Criminal Procedure Code, Part 1 of Article 74 of the Criminal Code). The author also deals with the procedural order, and the court’s power to assist in gathering the necessary information. Conclusions: Court procedures at the stage of execution of a sentence are gaining importance in terms of achieving the goals and objectives of criminal (article 2), penal (Article 1) and criminal procedure (Article 6) law.