Principle of scientific support of rulemaking and construction of criminal law norms

The article highlights the issue of the principle of scientific support for the construction of criminal law provisions as one of the fundamental principles of rulemaking in the field of criminal law. This principle is based on the legislator’s obligation to adhere to the scientific approach and scientific methods at all stages of the rulemaking process, and this implies that such criminal law rulemaking decisions should be made which correspond to the level of scientific development of the relevant issue in the theory of criminal law and guarantee the actual implementation of the principle of legality in rulemaking in this area. The author suggests that in order to fully realize the potential of the principle of scientific support for rulemaking in the field of criminal law, it is advisable to combine its use with the principle of practical compliance of criminal law provisions and the possibilities of their application. This principle should be taken into account both in the process of updating criminal legislation in general and in the development of individual criminal law provisions. The principle of scientific support for the construction of criminal law provisions may not be taken into account when adopting laws of Ukraine on criminal liability in an extraordinary period, as exemplified by the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The need for an immediate state response to such global threats by adjusting the current criminal legislation without observing the principle of scientificity is exceptional. As a rule, the adoption of new criminal laws without observing the principle of scientific evidence results in low quality criminal law provisions that are not able to ensure their effective application. The principle of scientific support should be implemented both during the scientific examination of draft criminal laws and during the scientific support of the entire rulemaking process.