Criminal law policy of countering animal cruelty:a comparative study

The subject of the research is the phenomenon of criminal law protection of animals from abuse. The purpose of the research is to provide likely analysis of the experience of establishing criminal liability for animal abuse in the post-Soviet countries, Western Europe and the United States. The methodological basis of the research consists of comparative legal, formal legal and systematic methods. In the course of the research, the specifics of the construction of criminal law norms providing for liability for animal abuse in foreign countries are determined. The focal points of the criminal law policy of countering animal cruelty in the sphere of criminalization of acts encroaching on public relations in the field of animal welfare are considered. The authors substantiate the possibility of assimilation into the Russian criminal law of a number of provisions of the criminal laws of foreign countries in terms of establishing liability for encroachment on the life of animals in order to ensure effective protection of social relations from negative development in the field of animal treatment.