“Pravova derzhava”. Issue 36 (2025), pages 766–776.

DOI: 10.33663/0869-2491-2025-36-766-776

Golub Yana
Justice as a universal principle of criminal law of Ukraine

Introduction. Restoring justice is an extremely important task of the state and a requirement of Ukrainian society. In terms of bringing to justice those guilty of committing war and international crimes on the territory of Ukraine and corruption crimes under martial law, the principle of justice acquires paramount importance. In conditions of an ongoing war, the desire for justice in society is extremely acute, because compliance with the principle of justice during the implementation of criminal liability for committing war and corruption crimes at all levels ensures the achievement of the goal of justice.

The aim of the article is to clarify the essential meaning of justice in the system of principles of criminal law.

Results and conclusions. Justice is not only a criminal law principle. Based on the postulates of natural law, the uniqueness of justice and its prominent place in the system of criminal law principles have been stated.

The equality of all principles in the criminal law system should be critically assessed and a requirement should be made for imperative compliance with the principle of justice during the consideration of criminal proceedings and the imposition of punishment and other measures of criminal law influence.

The principle of justice in criminal law is not limited to punishment. The institute of circumstances that exclude the criminal wrongfulness of an act fully reflects the embodiment of justice in criminal law, since the norms enshrined in it are not a manifestation of humanism on the part of the state (when exempting from criminal liability for committing a criminal offense), but its obligation to exclude liability for lawful behavior. An important component of justice in criminal law is taking into account the interests of the injured party in criminal proceedings. Justice in criminal law is defined through such concepts as reasonableness, proportionality, expediency, and proportionality.

Justice is a unique and universal principle of criminal law.

Key words: principles of law, criminal law, justice, system of principles, natural law, hierarchy, criminal liability, imposition of punishment, interests of the victim, legality, humanism, reasonableness, proportionality, war crime, corruption criminal offense.

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