Prospects for improving public control over the observance of the rights of convicts

Perspectivas para mejorar el control público sobre la observancia de los derechos de los convictos

• Pavlo Harasym Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0336-4710
• Roma Sybirna Lviv State University of Internal Affairs; Lviv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5704-2004
• Volodymyr Ortynskyi Lviv Polytechnic National University. Lviv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9041-6330
• Roman Shai Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2788-6035
• Mariia Maskovita Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0703-556X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4178.14

Keywords: penitentiary system, rights of convicted persons, public control, penal enforcement activity, observation commissions

Abstract

Using the dialectical method the publication was devoted to determining the prospects for improving public control over the observance of the rights of convicts in Ukraine. A clear distinction is indicated between state and non-state control, i.e.: (execution of control functions on observance of rights, exercise of moral and educational influence, educational work, placement of released persons, etc.), and standardization of relevant provisions in the corresponding legislation. It is argued that ensuring openness and transparency of the activities of penitentiary bodies and institutions is not the goal of public control, and the approach to its interpretation should not be equated with such concepts as «aid» and «sponsorship». In the conclusions it is substantiated that in order to reflect in the Ukrainian legislation the principle of openness of penal institutions for the society, it is necessary to overcome: formalism of public control by the observation boards over the implementation of the rights of convicts; to grant the right to exercise public control to other subjects of public control, in particular to the mass media, along with the active borrowing of progressive international practices in the specified field.

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