Legal Responsibility as a Means to Prevent Offences

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the role and importance of legal responsibility as a means of prevention from the standpoint of its understanding as an integral legal phenomenon, including the positive and negative aspects of implementation. The subject of the study is the evolution of the concept and meaning of legal responsibility, legal norms that enshrine legal responsibility. The article analyzes the evolution of understanding of the phenomenon of social responsibility in general and legal in particular. The characteristic signs of social responsibility are revealed and interrelations with its separate type, namely legal responsibility, are established. The derivative of legal responsibility from social is shown, which in the aggregate of all its manifestations and types is aimed at preventing deviant behavior. Arguments are presented proving the presence in the legal system of Russia of not only negative legal liability for violations of legal norms, but also a positive component of this phenomenon. The dependence of the prevention of offenses is substantiated not so much on the effect of negative legal liability, but on positive. The opinion is expressed that the opposites of the manifestations of legal responsibility can be represented in the form of paired categories. Such pairing is an expression of the contradictory nature of each manifestation of responsibility. The necessity of further research of positive legal responsibility in the context of the prevention of offenses in various ways of legal regulation is proved. A number of the most important functions of the legal liability system are being established. The problem of legal responsibility of state bodies is touched upon, the functioning of other types of legal responsibility, the formation of a rule of law, and ultimately the prevention of offenses, depends on its effectiveness. Conclusions are drawn about the historical nature of the normative nature of positive legal responsibility, its predetermination by the entire legal system and the very need for social development. Moreover, the prevention of offenses by means of positive legal responsibility is carried out by “soft” methods and means. In the context of the dialectical interaction of the positive and negative component of legal responsibility, conclusions are drawn about the prevention of the positive responsibility of not only offenses, but also of negative legal responsibility as such.