THE СONCEPT, FUNCTIONS, AND SUBJECT MATTER OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the concept, functions, and subject matter of criminal justice. Given the lack of a unified scholarly position on the definition of these categories, the research aims to systematize existing approaches and formulate the author’s perspective, based on an integrated methodological framework employing systemic-structural, comparative legal, and functional methods. Various scientific interpretations of criminal justice are examined – as a system, a process, and a social institution that ensures legal responses to criminal offenses, their investigation, trial, punishment of offenders, and protection of victims’ rights. It is emphasized that criminal justice is directly linked to the implementation of the state’s law enforcement function, aimed at combating crime, maintaining public order, and protecting human rights. Criminal justice is considered an independent type of justice, a distinct area of public administration that carries out the state’s law enforcement function through the legal activity of authorized entities. The article identifies the main functions of criminal justice: maintaining public order, ensuring fair trial, enforcing criminal penalties, and restoring victims’ rights. A definition of the subject matter of criminal justice is proposed as activity related to the detection, investigation, prosecution of criminal offenses, and the restoration of public order, encompassing criminal law norms, pre-trial procedures, court proceedings, and execution of penalties. The author emphasizes the need to distinguish criminal justice from related areas – such as administrative and disciplinary justice – taking into account their functional specifics and normative regulation. The study highlights the critical role of criminal justice in upholding legality, fairness, and human rights in a rule-of-law state.