The Improvement of the Procedural Order for Checking the Reasons and Grounds for Initiating a Criminal Case

Introduction: the range of tasks facing the stage of initiating a criminal case is quite diverse, which leads to different interpretations of their content by the scientists-processualists. The authors of the paper assess the problems of determining the reasons and grounds for initiating a criminal case. The problem considered by the authors of the manuscript is relevant because of their insufficiently clear legislative definition and their related ambiguous interpretation. The purpose of the study: to identify the problems that hinder the improvement of the procedural order for checking the reasons and grounds for initiating a criminal case. The research objectives: to analyze the points of view of the scientists-processualists about the expediency of eliminating the first stage of the criminal process; to offer some recommendations for transforming the stage of initiating a criminal case. Methods: the methodological framework for the study is represented by a system of methods of scientific cognition, which should include: general scientific, systemic, institutional, and comparative legal. Results: the paper provides an assessment of the position of some researchers specializing in criminal procedure law on the need to eliminate the stage of initiating a criminal case, which the authors of the paper do not share, citing the following arguments: the considered stage of the criminal process acts as a kind of filter that separates the law enforcement agencies from procedural activities for the analysis of information that does not hide the signs of a criminally punishable act; will cause an increase in the burden on investigators and interrogators; the burden on the federal budget will increase due to the procedural costs. Conclusions: considering the possibility of improving the stage of initiating a criminal case, borrowing the experience of the representative countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal system, the authors of the paper conclude that as a result of this, the procedural status of some participants in the criminal process will change, which is alien to the Russian criminal procedure legislation: the replacement of the functions of the investigator by the prosecutor and the court; the exercise of the function of the body of inquiry by the investigator; the acquisition by the defender of the status of the subject of proof on a par with the investigator and the inquirer. It is noted that the attempt of the legislator to give evidentiary value to the information obtained during the preinvestigation check as an independent reason for initiating a criminal case was not successful.