Topical Issues of Criminal Law and Lawsuit in Kazakhstan: Assignment of Punishment under Criminal Law
Topical Issues of Criminal Law and Lawsuit in Kazakhstan: Assignment of Punishment under Criminal Law

Summary/Abstract: Enactment of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Kazakhstan has settled many problems in the field of criminal sentence, though by no means not all of them. The problem of punishment assignment, meant to ensure the interests of the society, the state, and aggrieved person, as well as correctional rehabilitation of a person liable to punishment, remains one of the unsolved problems. Despite extensive research of the domestic and foreign scholars, the institution of criminal penalty remains one of the most problematic issues. The failure to resolve this problem brings great harm to all law enforcement activities, causes a negative reaction in society, and therefore deservedly enjoys the increased attention of criminologists and experts in criminal law and lawsuit. This problem is multifaceted since it applies not only to criminal law but to criminal lawsuit as well, and therefore, the author sees the aim of the present research in the search of options to improve the substantive and procedural provisions governing assignment of punishment. According to the author, the main factors causing this problem concern insufficient regulation of punishment assignment procedure in the legislation of Kazakhstan, the inaccuracy in construction of legal and technical aspects of dispositions and sanctions contained in certain provisions of the criminal code. In addition, according to the author, the courts are confronted with difficulties when assigning punishment due to misunderstanding of the sentencing principles and criteria. The work presents studies of regulatory enactments, opinions of scientists, legal practice, and foreign experience in the search for optimal punishment assignment model. One of the ways to solve this problem consists in more clear and detailed statutory regulation of the punishment assignment principles and criteria that would be able to significantly limit judicial discretion.

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