Risk-Oriented Justice

Abstract

In the situation of growing uncertainty for the society of global risk, new management technologies based on the concept of risk management should penetrate all spheres of human activities, including the sphere of regulating legal relations and enforcement of law norms by courts. Risk-oriented justice is a new area for Russian jurisprudence, and the author aims to outline key approaches to analyzing the opportunities of using the concept of «risk» to optimize the process of adjudication. The author presents the scientific definition of risk, draws attention to the necessity of identifying, assessing risks, i.e., the possible dangers inevitably emerging in the criminal court activities. Risks are ranged depending on their source, and the necessity of differentiating the strategies of reacting to various risks is proven. The author defines the infrastructure of making a court decision in the conditions of risk, which includes the following: the existence and due normative regulation of the space for court risk; effective rules of adjudication; due information support of adjudication; clearly defined goals of risky court actions. It is shown that uncontrolled risks lead to wrong judgments, reduce the stability of sentences and create victims of unfair justice. The author suggests implementing the idea of risk-oriented justice based on the principles and techniques of risk management developed by the science of riskology, which minimize risks and their consequences.