Історія виникнення та розвитку інституту звільнення від відбування покарання на території України

The article examines the institution of exemption from serving a sentence, which has a centuries-old history that began in the 10th century during the period of customary law. We propose to divide the history of the development of this institution into four stages that cover separate periods. The author proposes the following stages of formation and development: the first stage began during the time of «Russkaya Pravda» and lasted until 1917, it includes the establishment of the institution of exemption from criminal liability and serving a sentence and the determination of the procedural order of its application. This stage is divided into periods: 1) customary law, when this institution was born; 2) the Lithuanian-Rus state; 3) the «Cossack» law of the Zaporizhian Sich and the Hetmanate; 4) the period of the imperial era. The second stage is from 1917 to 1958, that is, until the entry into force of the Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics. Within its framework, the following periods are distinguished: 1) state-building processes of 1917–1921; 2) the emergence and development of Soviet criminal and criminal procedural law after the revolution and before the creation of the USSR – 1921–1922; 3) the first codification of criminal law in the Ukrainian SSR – the end of 1922 – 1958. The third stage falls on the years 1958–2001. During this stage, the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Ukrainian SSR of 1960 were developed and adopted. The fourth stage began in 2001, when the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (2012) came into force, which continues to this day. The institution of release from serving a sentence has important social significance, as it is an expression of the humanism of the state towards a person who has committed a criminal offense; it is used in cases where the goal of punishment can be achieved without actually serving the sentence or without further serving the sentence.