The Essence and Social Functions of the Judiciary in Modern Russia

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the correlation between the concept, essence and social functions of the judiciary of the Russian Federation. The author examines the main features of the dominant approaches in the domestic legal doctrine to the concept of the judicial power as a type of social power, a form of exercising state power and organizationally and procedurally formalized coercion with its inherent legal properties. Based on the analysis of theoretical and legal sources, to develop the concept of the judiciary, the author determines its essence as: a form of administration of social processes by resolving social conflicts; specific activities of state bodies through the constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings (justice) established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation; methods of using specific means of coercion on behalf of the state. In order to specify the concept and essence of the judiciary in Russia, the author examines its functions of ensuring constitutional law and order, legal protection, restoring violated rights, imposing legal responsibility on the offender, legal education, raising legal awareness and respect for the rights of citizens. The author makes a number of proposals aimed to improve the implementation of these functions in terms of respect for the law and the court, including by improving the activities of the courts themselves, expanding the openness and accessibility of certain judicial information through the National Automated Sistem "Justice" (GAS) of the Russian Federation and social networks.