On Defining Entities of Criminal Law

The article considers the theoretical characteristics of entities of criminal law. It is noted that a balanced full-fledged theory of entities of criminal law is an important condition for the development of crime science and law enforcement practice. Having examined the theoretical and legal characteristics of the concept of “individual in regard to criminal law,” the author formulated several basic theses. In particular: 1) among the entities of criminal law should be ranked the state (as a federal entity) and the persons to whom penal prohibitions are addressed, regardless of the latters’ capacity to understand the content of the prohibitions and bear responsibility for the law violation; 2) entities of criminal law have equal legal status, due to which proportionate facilities to defend their own interests appear to be a prerequisite for their full participation in legal relations; 3) among the entities opposed to the state in the criminal law should be ranked natural entities, first of all, with open possibility for legal entities to be ranked there.