Administrative Punishments: Theoretical and Legal Characteristics and Some Problems of Their Infliction

The paper examines some aspects of theoretical views on administrative punishment. The author analyzes the concept of administrative punishment as a measure of responsibility for an administrative offense, its essence and objectives. The study highlights a number of topical problems in the field of legal regulation of the system of administrative punishments that cause difficulties in the correct choice and appointment of administrative punishments. Attention is drawn to the lack of a unified approach for the legislator to establish a system of administrative penalties in terms of their alternative or non-alternative nature. It is shown that some sanctions are incompatible with the nature of the offense; there is a significant gap between the lower and upper limits of penalties in alternative sanctions, a significant difference exists in the sanctions applied to different subjects of the same offense. As a result, the commission of a more socially dangerous act in practice entails infliction of a less severe punishment, which does not meet the goals of prevention. It is noted that in some cases, when deciding on the infliction of an administrative penalty, jurisdictional authorities do not take into account mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Some proposals are made to improve the current legislation on administrative offenses. In particular, the author suggests that it is necessary to correlate all administrative offenses with each other according to the degree of public danger and, on this basis, introduce a system of punishment for administrative offences. It is also proposed to toughen the liability in relation to individuals, since the amount of the fine in relation to individuals and legal entities in some cases differs 50 times. At the same time, the author substantiates the necessity of involving the population in the development of legislative initiatives in this area.