Between Necessity and Excess: Social Conditionality of the Criminalization of Aggression Justification (Article 4362 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21564/2414-990X.173.359322Keywords:
social conditioning, criminalization, armed aggression, glorification, information warfare, overcriminalization, criminal law policyAbstract
Relevance. In the context of the full-scale armed invasion by the Russian Federation and its prolonged hybrid aggression against Ukraine, the issue of the social conditioning of criminal law prohibitions aimed at countering information aggression acquires particular theoretical and practical significance. Article 436² of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which establishes criminal liability for justifying, recognizing as lawful, denying the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine, and glorifying its participants, constitutes a relatively recent legislative decision that requires comprehensive scholarly analysis from the perspective of criminal law doctrine.
Purpose. The study aims to identify and analyse the combination of factors that served as the driving force behind the criminalization of the relevant acts, as well as to assess whether the legislative decision corresponds to genuine social needs.
Methods. The study employs a three-dimensional analysis of the grounds for criminalization — legal-criminological, socio-economic, and socio-psychological — in their interrelation with the principles of criminalization as systemic-legal guidelines for legislative activity. The dialectical method was used to identify the contradiction between social needs and the capabilities of the criminal law tools; general logical methods for forming generalized conclusions; special legal methods for analyzing the disposition and sanctions of Article 436² of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, its conflicts and statistics of judicial practice; as well as systemic and historical approaches to establishing correlations between the deformations of criminalization and the genesis of the information aggression of the Russian Federation.
Results. It is established that the social conditioning of criminal liability for acts covered by Article 436² of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is fundamentally differentiated depending on the form of their commission. Criminalization of public forms of relevant acts is socially justified, since they are characterized by a high degree of public danger and the ability to influence mass consciousness. On the other hand, the extension of the criminal law prohibition to non-public forms of behavior has signs of excessive criminalization, since it is not based on sufficient legal and criminological, socio-economic and socio-psychological grounds.
Prospects. Further research is associated with developing an optimal legislative model of criminalization that ensures a balance between the effectiveness of countering information aggression and the observance of individual rights and freedoms.
References
Dudorov, O.O., & Khavronіuk, M.I. (2014). Criminal law. Kyiv: Vaite.
Borysov, V.I., & Frys, P.L. (2013). The Definition of Criminal and Legal Policy. Herald of the Association of Criminal Law of Ukraine, 1(1), 15-31.
Borysov, V.I., & Fris, P.L. (2014). Principles of modern criminal law policy of Ukraine. Issues of Crime Prevention, 27, 30-38.
Panov, M., & Herasina, L. (2001). Legal policy as a universal phenomenon of social existence. Law of Ukraine, 8, 36-40.
Ostrоhlyad, O.V. (2013). Modern understanding of methods of realization of criminal and legal politics. The Scientific and Informational Bulletin of Ivano-Frankivsk University of Law Named after King Danylo Halytskyi, 8, 182-186.
Pashchenko, O.O. (2018). Social conditioning of the criminal liability law. Kharkiv: Yurait.
Frys, P.L. (2014). Criminalization and decriminalization in the criminal legal policy. Herald of the Association of Criminal Law of Ukraine, 1(2), 19-28.
Korobeev, A.I. (1987). Soviet criminal law policy: problems of criminalization and penalization. Vladivostok: DVGU.
Frys, P.L. (2005). Criminal law policy of the Ukrainian state: theoretical, historical and legal problems. Kyiv: Atika.
Borysov, V.I. (1992). Main problems of protecting industrial safety in the criminal legislation of Ukraine. Doctoral Thesis. Kharkiv.
Horbulin, V.P. (Ed.). (2016). World hybrid war: Ukrainian front. Kyiv: NISD.
Koval, D.O. (2014). Information war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine: assessment of the international community. In M. M. Antonovych, B. V. Babin, M. O. Baimuratov, I. A. Berezovska, & I. H. Bilas (Eds.). Ukrainian revolution of dignity, RF aggression and international law. (pp. 863–871). Kyiv: K.I.S.
Rushchenko, I.P. (2015). Russia-Ukraine hybrid war: sociological perspective. Kharkiv: FOP Pavlenko O. H.
Vakulych, V., & Novorodovska, N. (2023). Russian Propaganda of Aggression Against Ukraine (2014-2021). Ukrainian Information Space, 1(11), 119-132. https://doi.org/10.31866/2616-7948.1(11).2023.279610.
Snegovaya, M. (2015). Putin’s information warfare in Ukraine: Soviet origins of Russia’s hybrid warfare (Russia Report No. 1). Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved from https://www.understandingwar.org/report/putins-information-warfare-ukraine-soviet-origins-russias-hybrid-warfare.
vanenko, S. (2023). Special Russian propaganda in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine (2014–2018). Military-Historical Bulletin, 49(3), 5-13. https://doi.org/10.33099/2707-1383-2023-49-3-5-13.
Kudinov, V.A., Korneiko, O.V., & Pakrysh, O.Ye. (2025). Russia`s information aggression against Ukraine: dynamics and impact on the civilian population. Juridical Scientific and Electronic Journal, 8, 372-378. https://doi.org/10.32782/2524-0374/2025-8/76.
Babenko, A.M., & Karchevskyi, M.V. (2023). Glorification: historical, international and domestic socio-legal dimension. Juridical Scientific and Electronic Journal, 10, 713-717. https://doi.org/10.32782/2524-0374/2023-10/173.
Fino, A. (2020). Defining hate speech: A seemingly elusive task. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 18(1), 31-57. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqaa023.
Ashworth, A., & Zedner, L. (2012). Prevention and criminalization: Justifications and limits. New Criminal Law Review, 15(4), 542–571. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2012.15.4.542.
Stoyanova, V., & Nihe, E. (2022). Criminalising hate crime and hate speech at EU level. Criminal Law Forum, 33(2), 85-119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-022-09440-w.
Movchan, R. (2022). Criminal law novel about justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (Art. 436-2 of the Criminal code of Ukraine): law enforcement and law-making problems. The Scientific and Informational Bulletin of Ivano-Frankivsk University of Law Named after King Danylo Halytskyi, 13, 197-204. https://doi.org/10.33098/2078-6670.2022.13.25.197-204.
Batyrhareieva, V.S. (2022). To a criminological analysis of justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation and glorification of its participants as a new challenge to the security of the information space of Ukraine. Information and law, 4(43), 37-49. https://doi.org/10.37750/2616-6798.2022.4(43).269976.
Rubashchenko, M.A. (October 21-22, 2022). Non-public justification, recognition as lawful, denial of aggression/occupation (Art. 436-2 CC of Ukraine) vs. freedom of expression. In Criminal law of Ukraine before the challenges of the present and the future: Proceedings of the International scient. conf. (pp. 69-71). Kharkiv: Pravo.
Rubashchenko, M.A., Yakoviuk, I.V., Shulzhenko, N.V., Zaitsev, O.V., & Kharytonov, S.O. (2024). Collaborationism in temporarily occupied territories: problems of legal assessment, guaranteeing human rights and freedoms and reintegration of territories. M. A. Rubashchenko (Ed.). Kharkiv: Pravo.
Karchevskyi, M.V. (2024). The main problems of criminal-legal protection of information security in Ukraine. Topical Issues of Law: Theory and Practice, 1(47), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.33216/2218-5461/2024-47-1-120-129.
Novikova, K.A. (2024). Criminal legal means for the glorification of the armed aggression of the russian federation in Ukraine. Information and Law, 3(50), 192-200. https://doi.org/10.37750/2616-6798.2024.3(50).311731.
Opinion on the Draft Law of Ukraine on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on strengthening criminal liability for the production and dissemination of prohibited information products (Reg. No. 5102). Retrieved from https://itd.rada.gov.ua/billinfo/Bills/pubFile/1243501
Fris, P.L. (2006). Socio-psychological grounds for the criminalization of socially dangerous acts. Our Law, 1, 59-61.
Batyrhareieva, V.S., & Kukovynets, D.O. (2024). On the criminological classification of persons inclined to glorify the enemy. Information and Law, 4(51), 207-219. https://doi.org/10.37750/2616-6798.2024.4(51).318104.
Zubchenko, O.S. (2022). Collaborationism in the temporarily occupied territories of Southern Ukraine: a sociological aspect. National Technical University of Ukraine Journal. Political science. Sociology. Law, 3(55), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.20535/2308-5053.2022.3(55).269530.
Netesa, N.V. (March 16, 2023). Propaganda as a form of information influence in conditions of hybrid war. In Current problems of law enforcement activities under martial law: Proceedings of the All-Ukrain. scient. and pract. conf. (pp. 207-210). Khmelnytskyi: NADPSU.
Pysmenskyi, Ye.O. (2024). Criminal law problems of combating collaborationist activity. Kyiv: Alerta.
S. Shyam Sundar, Eugene Cho Snyder, Mengqi Liao, Junjun Yin, Jinping Wang & Guangqing Chi. (2025). Sharing without clicking on news in social media. Nature Human Behaviour, 9, 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02067-4.
Sirlin, N., Epstein, Z., Arechar, A.A., & Rand, D.G. (2021). Digital literacy is associated with more discerning accuracy judgments but not sharing intentions. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, 2(6). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-83
Voitovych, N., & Mahuriak, I. (2025). Memes as a factor of manipulations: Transformation of image through mass culture. Ukrainian Information Space, 1(15), 174-186. https://doi.org/10.31866/2616-7948.1(15).2025.335355.
Sidchenko S., Zalkin S., Khudarkovskyi K., & Bielimov V. (2024). Informational (psychological) impact of Russian propaganda on young people in the Russian Federation and on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Scientific Works of Kharkiv National Air Force University, 1(79), 113-118. https://doi.org/10.30748/zhups.2024.79.17.
Fris, P.L., & Adamovych, S.V. (2025). Russia’s aggression against Ukraine from a criminological perspective. Ivano-Frankivsk: Holinei O.V.
Human Rights Watch. (2024). Forced to Fail: Russia’s Erasure of Ukrainian Education in Occupied Territories. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2024/06/ukraine_crd0624ukr%20web.pdf.
Brown, D.K. (2011). Criminal law’s unfortunate triumph over administrative law. Journal of Law, Economics & Policy, 7(4), 658-684. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228190274_Criminal_Law’s_Unfortunate_Triumph_Over_Administrative_Law.
Luna, E. (2012). Prosecutorial decriminalization. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 102(3), 785-819. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23416060.
Kadish, S.H. (1962). Legal norm and discretion in the police and sentencing processes. Harvard Law Review, 75(5), 904-931. https://doi.org/10.2307/1338645.
Kadish, S.H. (1967). The crisis of overcriminalization. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 374, 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/000271626737400115.
Luna, E. (2005). The overcriminalization phenomenon. American University Law Review, 54(3), 703-743. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/aulr/vol54/iss3/5/.
Husak, D. (2008). Overcriminalization: The limits of the criminal law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2009.12.2.323.
Larkin, P.J. (2013). Public choice theory and overcriminalization. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 36, 716-760. Retrieved from https://journals.law.harvard.edu/jlpp/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2013/04/36_2_715_Larkin.pdf.
Melnyk, M.I. (October 24–25, 2014). Main trends of law-making on criminal law issues in 2013–2014. In Ensuring uniformity of judicial practice in criminal cases in the context of the events of 2013–2014 in Ukraine: Proceedings of the International Symposium (pp. 109-114). Kyiv.
Holina, V. (2015). The Problem of The Criminological Supporting of Criminalization and Decriminalization in The Criminal Law of Ukraine. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Science of Ukraine, 3(82), 107-116. Retrieved from https://dspace.nlu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/10134.
Fris, P.L. (2017). Expediency of Criminal and Legal Policy of Law in Ukraine. Law of Ukraine, 2, 93-99. Retrieved from http://jnas.nbuv.gov.ua/article/UJRN-0001431093.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Олександр Перепелиця
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
