On the Need for a Legal Mechanism of Compensating Damages to the Victim in a Criminal Case

The author raises the key problem of the criminal policy of the Russian state — the rational correlation between the public and private interests in modern socio-legal conditions in the sphere of crime counteraction. It is stated that the system of guarantees for the victim’s right to the compensation of damages inflicted by the crime depends on the attitude of the state to the victim. It is noted that the interests of the victim are not central for the organization of crime counteraction in comparison with the private interests of persons involved in criminal prosecution. The author proves the necessity of ensuring the legitimate interests of the victim for the restitution of their property rights violated by the crime. The conducted analysis of the trend for widening legal guarantees of the victim’s right to the compensation of damages in the amount proportionate to the damage caused by the crime, and the analysis of the provisional measures undertaken by the investigator with the purpose of restoring the property rights of crime victims show that there is no effective mechanism of ensuring the constitutional right of the victim in a criminal case to the compensation of damages. This conclusion is based on the analysis of legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the study of normative legal acts of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service of Russia, the Investigation Committee of Russia, and the statistical data of the Court Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Chief Information-Analytical Center of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the issue under consideration. Taking into account foreign experience, the opinions of researchers-proceduralists on the procedure for the compensation of damages to crime victims, and the retrospective analysis of the restitution of their property rights, the author suggests that it is necessary to specify the procedural duties of the investigator with the purpose of improving the undertaken provisional actions.