The crimes that affect the animal and plant world: the problems of penalization

Abstract

The article analyzes the group of criminal law norms contained in Chapter 26 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, providing for responsibility for crimes encroaching upon the animal and plant world, in the context of determining whether their sanctions correspond to the nature and degree of public danger of the acts. The paper emphasizes that the effectiveness of the application of criminal law in general, and the rules governing the crimes committed in the field of animal and plant life in particular, depends on many factors, including the problems of lawmaking. In this regard, the issues of legislative construction of sanctions of the relevant criminal law are considered. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that most of the sanctions of the norms in question do not correspond to the nature and degree of public danger of prohibited acts, the principle of the systematic nature of their construction has been violated. As a result, it is stated that today the penalties imposed for crimes that infringe on the animal and plant world cannot be considered to be efficient.