Criminal and legal protection of land resources in Ukraine and Latin America: comparative legal analysis

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to conduct a comparative study of criminal law protection of land resources under the law of Ukraine and Latin America states. Based on the results of such study, positive experience will be identified, which should be taken into account in the process of further improvement of domestic criminal law, as well as negative practices aimed at avoiding its implementation in Ukraine. During the course of covering legal framework in selected countries, proving the hypotheses, substantiating conclusions a wide range of scientific methods has been used. Among them are the following: comparative law, formal logic, philosophical (dialectical) nethods, methods of systems analysis and modeling. Based on the analysis, it has been concluded that when improving the current Criminal Code of Ukraine primarily those provisions of criminal law of Latin American countries can be taken into account, according to which possession of not only a whole all but also a part of land (real estate) constitutes a crime. At the same time, it has been proved that applying approaches of some states is inexpedient, where parliamentarians: 1) refuse to use aggravating elements, when constructing the relevant corpus delicti, which does not allow to ensure the implementation of the principle of differentiation of criminal liability; 2) provide for criminal liability for land crimes of “environmental” nature in the provisions of special laws on the regulation of liability for environmental crimes. Keywords: crime, criminal liability, criminal law protection, land resources, land, soil, land rights, illegal possession, environment, pollution.