Active Repentance as an Incentivizing Tool of Criminal Law: Ukrainian Model

The article analyses the Ukrainian model of active repentance in criminal justice through the lens of restorative justice. Restorative justice has incrementally attracted the increasing attention of scholars, legislators, and policymakers across the globe. Ukrainian criminal legislation, representing a combination of post-soviet and Western approaches to criminal justice, offers a remarkable experience. Unlike many other Western European countries, the Criminal Code of Ukraine creates a strong incentive for an offender to show remorse at every stage of his interaction with the criminal justice system: during the pre-trial inquiry, throughout the trial, while serving punishment and even after the punishment while subjected to certain limitations (criminal record). At every stage, active repentance of an offender triggers/might trigger the possibility of leniency. This leniency might result in a release from criminal liability, mitigation of the imposed punishment, release the convict on parole or early expungement of collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, etc. The Criminal Code of Ukraine does not provide a clear demarcation of active repentance. Instead, the law defines it through the inexhaustive list of behavior patterns in which it manifests itself. This approach enables judicial discretion and reduces the formality in the assessment of the acts of an offender. The main shortcoming of the Ukrainian approach to active repentance is that the reconciliation between the offender, the victim, and the wider community is being advanced poorly.

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