Release from criminal liability in Russia and Germany: common trends and national peculiarities.

The object of the study is the norms of criminal and criminal procedural law of Russia and Germany that regulate the grounds, conditions, and procedures for exemption from criminal liability, as well as the doctrinal interpretations of their socio-legal significance. Overall, the article is devoted to a comprehensive comparative legal analysis of the institution of exemption from criminal liability in the legislation of the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany. The study covers both substantive and procedural aspects of this institution, treating it as an important tool of modern criminal policy aimed at humanizing and differentiating criminal liability. The article thoroughly investigates the normative grounds for exemption from criminal liability in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code of Germany, including aspects such as active repentance, reconciliation with the victim, expiration of the statute of limitations, as well as new provisions of Russian legislation. The methodological basis of the study is composed of comparative legal, formal-legal, and historical-legal methods, which allowed for an in-depth analysis of legislative constructions and their evolution. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the comprehensive comparison of Russian and German approaches to exemption from criminal liability, as well as in the development of proposals for improving Russian legislation based on German experience. The results of the study demonstrate that, despite a common focus on the humanization of criminal law, the institution of exemption from liability in Germany features greater procedural flexibility and a combination of substantive and procedural norms. The feasibility of borrowing certain elements of the German model to optimize Russian law enforcement is justified, particularly the introduction of mechanisms for conditional cessation of criminal cases. The article may be of interest to researchers in criminal law, legislators, and law enforcement officers dealing with issues related to the improvement of institutions for exemption from criminal liability and the humanization of criminal policy.