IS THE JUDGE’S RESOLUTION OF EXTRA-PROCEDURAL APPLICATIONS A SPECIAL FORM OF IMPLEMENTATION OF JUSTICE?

Abstract

The practice of judges’ resolution of extra-procedural applications during the entire period of their existence has not been of great interest to the representatives of criminal procedural science. This is understandable: such activity is only indirectly related to criminal proceedings, and its tacit nature excludes substantive criticism without special empirical research in the courts. However, any extra-procedural application is always an attempt to exert pressure on a judge in charge of the criminal case, and therefore it poses a threat to a fair and impartial resolution of a social conflict, thus necessitating the establishment of a single mechanism to respond to such applications, based on the principle of judicial independence. The purpose of the paper is to develop theoretical provisions substantiating the need to optimize and simplify the existing procedure of judges’ resolution of extra-procedural applications. The paper uses the methods of system analysis, synthesis, sociological survey and generalization. Results: on the basis of the statistics, results of judges' questionnaires and examination of non-procedural applications, the author concludes that the judicial practice of resolving such applications is very difficult, owing to gaps and uncertainties in the law, and its scale is indicative of the emergence of a new, hitherto unknown course of action for judges.