Propaganda Bans. Analysing Some Trends and Defects of Modern Lawmaking

The author addresses the problem of the growing volume of legislative prohibitions, supported by administrative and criminal penalties for non-compliance. The problem is examined on the examples of bans on various kinds of propaganda; their grounds and social consequences are analysed. It is shown how the adoption of ill-conceived bans contributes to the redundancy of normative-legal regulation for citizens and legal entities. This, in turn, entails infringement of the rights and freedoms of citizens, in particular, restrains the realisation of their creative potential, limits the freedom of self-expression, deforms legal consciousness. At the same time, unproductive costs for entrepreneurs and other economic entities are increasing. The problem is aggravated by the uncertainty in the formulation of prohibitions and the possibility of their wide interpretation. The article reveals the negative practice of inclusion in administrative and criminal legislation of norms on responsibility for new offences without a proportional increase in the number of staff of controlling, law enforcement and judicial bodies, as well as without additional funding for their activities, which leads to distortion of the declared objectives of legal policy, creates preconditions for selective law enforcement, abuse and corruption. Proposals for revision of existing prohibitions and their restriction are substantiated, proposals for improving the quality of draft federal laws aimed at changing administrative and criminal legislation are analysed and clarified.