The impact of international law on the humanisation of Ukraine’s criminal justice system

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the concepts of humanism and humanisation within the context of philosophical and legal approaches to defining these concepts, as well as the dialectical and convergent process of transformation in Ukrainian legislation, driven by the influence of international law. The historical aspects that served as the ideological backdrop for the initiation of legal processes of humanisation of Ukrainian national legislation are analysed, using examples of transformations that have taken place within the criminal law system.

The aim of the study was to establish the influence of international law as a driving factor in the creation of humanisation processes in the transformation of Ukrainian legislation, as well as the legal and philosophical essence and significance of such influence.

In the course of the study, general scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, systems analysis, abstraction, deduction and induction were used to achieve the stated objectives, as well as specialised scientific methods: philosophical-legal analysis, axiological, hermeneutic and historical-legal methods.

The study resulted in the identification and philosophical-legal analysis of the main approaches to defining the concepts of humanism and humanisation, as well as the establishment and justification of the conceptual and normative link between acts of international law and the transformative changes in Ukrainian legislation brought about by the humanising provisions and ideas embodied in such acts.

The ideological and normative impetus for reforming the system of criminal law enforcement in Ukraine is characterised and analysed using the example of illustrative international political and legal processes.

The conclusion of this study is the scientific confirmation of the dialectical influence of international law—as a dynamic philosophical and legal process—on the humanisation of transformations in Ukrainian legislation, using the example of transformations in the system of criminal law enforcement.