Konyakhin V.P., Poltavets V.V. The Doctrine of Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances: The Doctrinal Model of Professor L.L. Kruglikov

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2026.1.2

Vladimir P. Konyakhin, Doctor of Sciences (Jurisprudence), Professor, Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Honored Scientist of the Krasnodar Territory, Kuban State University, Stavropolskaya St, 149, 350040, Krasnodar, Russian Federation, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6062-7759

Valeria V. Poltavets, Candidate of Sciences (Jurisprudence), Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Kuban State University, Stavropolskaya St, 149, 350040, Krasnodar, Russian Federation, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0854-6628

Introduction: the paper deals with the doctrine of mitigating and aggravating circumstances in the interpretation of one of its main developers – Professor L.L. Kruglikov – as well as his numerous students and followers. Research goals and objectives: to show the significance of the rich creative heritage of L.L. Kruglikov for the development of domestic criminal law doctrine; the judicial practice of sentencing taking into account mitigating and aggravating circumstances; and the legislative approaches to reforming their lists and constructing special rules for accounting for these circumstances. Methods: in the process of preparing the work, the general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, classification, typologization, and modeling) and the specific scientific (logical-legal, historical-legal, comparative law, and sociological) research methods were applied. Results: the essence and legal nature of criminal law prescriptions forming the normative content of this doctrine are determined, as well as their specificity and relationship with the system of general sentencing rules. Based on the analysis of the content of the current criminal legislation, the practice of its application, and relying on the creative heritage of Professor L.L. Kruglikov, the distinctive features of these circumstances are established, revealing their theoretical and practical significance and contributing to their delimitation from other criminal law categories and institutions. Conclusions: based on the conducted research, taking into account the subsequent achievements of criminal law science and modern needs of judicial practice, the authors’ definition of these circumstances is developed and a commentary on the latest innovations within Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is provided. Furthermore, the ways to optimize the content of the list of aggravating circumstances, as well as special sentencing rules provided for in Article 65 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, are identified.

Key words: mitigating circumstances, aggravating circumstances, sentencing, individualization of punishment, personality of the guilty, degree of public danger of the crime.

Citation. Konyakhin V.P., Poltavets V.V. The Doctrine of Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances: The Doctrinal Model of Professor L.L. Kruglikov. Legal Concept = Pravovaya paradigma, 2026, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 15-24. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2026.1.2

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