Conceptual Model of Group Rules of Release from Punishment Due to Prescription ; Концептуальна модель групових правил звільнення від покарання у зв’язку з давністю

The legal sub-institution of release from punishment due to prescription is sufficiently explored in legal doctrine. However, attempts to define unified rules of release from punishment due to prescription in criminal legal doctrine have been made only occasionally. The purpose of the article is to determine, using dialectical, systemic, hermeneutic, and sociological scientific methods of learning the group rules of release from punishment due to prescription (Part 5 of Article 74, Article 80 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).The article offers the author’s definition of the concept of prescription in criminal law based on the analysis of the scholars’ positions regarding the grounds for the application of prescription.It has been established that the prescription does not apply in the case of committing certain criminal offences that are exhaustively defined in the criminal legislation. It is justified to support legislative initiatives on not applying the statute of limitations to persons who committed or were convicted, respectively, of crimes against the international legal order: the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression, war crimes, or crimes against the peace and security of mankind. It is also acknowledged as relevant not to invoke the prescription for the enforcement of a conviction in the case of an individual convicted of crimes against the foundations of national security of Ukraine, as outlined in Articles 109–114-2 of the Criminal Code, which should be reflected in the legi slation.The conditions for the application of the prescription are defined. The concepts of “evasion of pretrial investigation or court”, “evasion of punishment” are analysed. Different legal situations are modelled, in which a person’s performance of certain actions may indicate evasion of pre-trial investigation or court.The common features of the types of release from punishment due to prescription, as established during the research, enabled the author to formulate the following conceptual model of ...