Prospects for simplified legal proceedings in criminal process

The article analyzes tasks of simplified proceedings. The forms of simplified proceedings are considered as "summary proceedings" (England), "plea bargaining" (USA), "conditional refusal to initiate criminal prosecution", "criminal order" (France), "expedited proceedings"(Germany). The ways of implementation in domestic legislation have been developed and proposed based on the results of studying models of simplified legal proceedings.

SUMMARY

One of serious problems for each state is to ensure the promptness of criminal proceedings regardless of legal system in which it operates. Attention has recently been drawn to the need of introduction of simplified procedure among the ways to increase efficiency.

Discussion at the XII UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (El Salvador, Brazil, April 12-19, 2010) about the concept of simplified (accelerated) criminal justice showed that improving the fight against crime in modern conditions requires taking into account a wide range of factors. Issues negatively affecting its condition included ineffective and protracted investigations, limited use of pretrial detention clauses, ineffective case management, limited resources from prosecutors and judiciary and their insufficient use.

According to the UN, summary proceedings are simplified procedure that expedites court proceedings in order to make criminal justice system more efficient and minimize costs. In general, summary judgment is used in lower courts, usually for less serious criminal offenses, and is an expedited procedure in which certain formal procedures are not required or simplified.