Department of Judicial Activity and Criminal Procedure

Head of the Department: Bozrov Vladimir Mairovich
Doctor of Juridical Sciences
Address: 620034, Ekaterinburg, 54 Kolmogorova St., office 308, 309;
Yekaterinburg, Moskovskaya str., 120 (Sverdlovsk Regional Court)
Telephone: +7(343) 367-40-48
E-mail: ksd@usla.ru

Criminal procedure as an independent academic discipline has been taught at our University since its Foundation. Initially, classes were taught by teachers who were part of the Department of criminal law. In 1954 the Department of Criminal Procedure was separated from it, headed by the graduate of the postgraduate school of Leningrad State University, candidate of juridical sciences (later Doctor of Law, Professor) Platon Mikhailovich Davydov He headed the Department until 1987, during which the Department was formed and developed as a scientific and educational team. His efforts were continued by Professors Ivan Yakovlevich Dyuryagin (1987-1991), Evgeny Petrovich Ishchenko (1991-1993), associate professors Alexey Ivanovich Kazakov (1993-1996) and Sergey Dmitrievich Militsin (1996-2001). Since 2001, the Department is headed by Doctor of Law, Professor Alexey Dmitrievich Proshlyakov.

In the 50-60s, the teaching staff of the department began to form, the basis of which was made up of lawyers who not only had excellent professional training, but also received front and labor hardening during the Great Patriotic War. P. M. Davydov went from the Deputy commander of an artillery battery to the chief of staff of the artillery division on the Western front. The commander of the rifle platoon on the Central and 1st Ukrainian fronts was M. N. Pereverzev. P. N. Agafonov served in the military justice bodies of the Kalinin and 2nd Baltic fronts, and P. P. Yakimov participated in military operations.

In part, the applied nature of the main academic discipline - the criminal procedure - determined the constant focus of the department on a close relationship with the practice of criminal proceedings. That is why at different times the famous lawyer D.P. Proshlyakov, demanding military judge P.N. Agafonov, experienced prosecutors L.E. Sigalov, Yu.D. Frolov, Head of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation B.N. Ilyukhin and others taught at the department. This tradition continues today. As a rule, specialists with practical experience are invited for teaching at the department. Currently, associate professor L.N. Reshetnikov, a retired judge of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, who has more than forty years of judicial experience, is passing on his rich knowledge and skills to students. Former employees of the internal affairs bodies, Doctor of Law, Professor V.A. Sementsov, candidates of juridical sciences, associate professors E.V. Zhogolev, N.Sh. Mingalin successfully entered the department team. In 2005, Professor V. S. Balakshin, a former employee of the Prosecutor's office, successfully defended his doctoral thesis on modern problems of proof in criminal cases.

But if earlier lawyers, as a rule, left practical activity, moving on to teaching, now many employees of the department have turned to face practice. Associate professors A.I. Kazakov, E.Yu. Nikiforova, senior lecturer A. N. Berdyshev work as lawyers. Associate Professor A.P. Evsyutina devoted herself entirely to judicial activity, going to work first at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, and then at the Supreme Court of the Udmurt Republic.

For many years, the department taught only one academic discipline - the Soviet criminal procedure. This made it possible to accumulate rich methodological experience, which was realized in numerous textbooks for students. The department was one of the first in the country to respond to the codification of national legislation in the late 50s - early 60s, by issuing textbooks: P.M. Davydov, P.P. Yakimov "The Use of Procedural Coercive Measures on the Basics of Criminal Proceedings of the USSR and Union Republics" (Sverdlovsk, 1961) and P.M. Davydov, D.V. Sidorov, P.P. Yakimov "Judicial Proceedings under the New Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR" (Sverdlovsk, 1962). Professor P. M. Davydov also participated in writing a number of textbooks on criminal procedure published in the 70s-80s. The original textbook "Criminal Procedure" (Yekaterinburg, 1992), written on the basis of a comprehensive plot of a specific criminal case by the staff of the department under the editorship of Professor I. Ya Dyuryagin, helped many students to better understand the complexities of criminal proceedings. Currently, the teachers of the department have prepared and published educational and methodological complexes that include all the materials necessary for students of various forms of education.

Since the late 70s, technical means and business games have been actively introduced into the educational process. To train future lawyers in practical skills of participation in trials, the Sverdlovsk film Studio released a short film "Trial in a criminal case" in 1978, based on the script of the senior lecturer P. N. Agafonov. Along with professional artists, not only teachers, but also students participated in its filming. In recent years, educational films have been replaced by video recordings, which are actively used by teachers of the Department during lectures and practical classes. Modern technical means and methods are of particular importance when teaching new subjects recently introduced into the curriculum at the Department. For several years now, students have been studying "Features of judicial proceedings involving jurors", a special course prepared by associate professors A. O. Mashovets and V. A. Morshinin. When drawing up the new curriculum, taking into account the opinions of teachers of the Department, students and law enforcement officials, the course "Legal procedural documents" was included in it. It is aimed at teaching students legal writing, that is, the ability to draw up a variety of legal documents.

Preparing the curriculum, the experience of conducting an interdisciplinary course "Judicial advocacy", previously developed and successfully taught by Professor A.D. Proshlyakov together with Professor of the Department of civil procedure I. V. Reshetnikova, was also taken into account. The courses "Protection and Representation in Criminal Cases", "Court Speech", "Protective Speech", "Lawyer in Criminal Proceedings" developed on its basis help students acquire skills in protecting legitimate interests in criminal proceedings. The Department has prepared another academic discipline necessary for in-depth training of specialists- "Special proceedings in criminal procedure", as well as several special courses for students of the investigative specialization of the Institute of Justice on the features of preliminary investigation in various categories of criminal cases. The teachers of the department have developed and teach 7 master's programs - a relatively new form of education for University.

As in previous years, students who are most deeply involved in the problems of criminal proceedings are engaged in scientific circles. As a rule, the Department prepares its graduate students from the circle members, the annual number of which, taking into account those studying at the evening and extramural departments, has not been less than 250 people latelyк. The best members of the circle continue their postgraduate studies after graduating from the University. So, In the mid-70s, N. N. Ostapchuk came to the Department, remembered by many as an excellent teacher and Komsomol leader.

The continuity of the teaching staff is clearly visible today. Experienced associate professors A.V. Kozhevnikov (Deputy head of the Department), T. A. Solovyova, V. M. Paradeev, who have worked at the University for 25-30 years, are always ready to help their younger colleagues. Bright and interesting lectures and classes are given by professors V. S. Balakshin, A.D. Proshlyakov, V. A. Sementsov, associate professors L. A. Alexandrova, E. A. Bravilova, O. S. Golovachuk, V. V. Diakonova, A. Yu. Yegorov, A. I. Zorin, A. I. Kazakov, A. O. Mashovets, S. D. Militsin, N. Sh. Mingalin, E. V. Nikitina, E. Yu. Nikiforova, V. S. Ramenskaya, O. V. Ryabkova. Senior lecturers Yu. V. Kozubenko, N. A. Seledkina, senior lecturer E. A. Popkova, candidates of juridical sciences A.V. Pushkarev, E. V. Saltykov, teachers O. A. Andreyanova, T. N. Glotova, Associate Professor V. Yu. Yarmoshenko successfully joined the department’s team.

Laboratory assistants A. M. Shakirova and T. A. Ivanchenko perform immaculately important work for the Department.

Along with teaching, serious scientific work was always carried out at the department. Only under the guidance of Professor P.M. Davydov, 15 candidate theses were defended by postgraduate students and teachers of the department. Professors P.P. Yakimov, I.Ya. Duryagin, E.P. Ishchenko made a great contribution to the training of young scientists. Currently, the training of graduate students and applicants is led by professors A.D. Proshlyakov (19 defended candidate theses), V.S. Balakshin, V.A. Sementsov (1 defended candidate theses), associate professor S.D. Militsin (5 defended candidate theses.

Among the graduates of the department are teachers and heads of law departments, famous lawyers of Russia and neighboring countries, doctors of juridical sciences, professor V.N. Butov, V.M. Bykov, F.M. Kudin, L.M. Volodina, A.A. Davletov, candidates of sciences, associate professors V.D. Adamenko, S.A. Alexandrov, V.M. Zhukovsky, A.P. Kruglikov, N.R. Maximov and others.

Teachers of the Department have always maintained close scientific relations with process scientists from other universities. Cooperation with colleagues is constantly developing and improving. In the late 70s, Associate Professor V. A. Morshinin was transferred to the newly created Law Department of Omsk State University "to organize training of specialists". Recently, one of the most common forms of inter-University interaction is inviting leading teachers of the Department to give lectures and conduct classes with students of other universities that have cooperation agreements with USLU. The classes of associate Professor T. A. Solovyova are very popular among students of the Humanities University (Yekaterinburg). Every year associate Professor S. D. Militsin comes to give lectures at the Chita Institute of Entrepreneurship of the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperation. In the 80s - 90s, there was an increase in professional contacts with foreign colleagues. Professor I. ya. Dyuryagin attended an introductory internship in law enforcement agencies and educational institutions of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1989. The internships of Professor A.D. Proshlyakov (1995, 2004) and associate Professor S. D. Militsin (1996) at the leading law faculties of universities in the USA and Germany were informative and useful for improving teaching methods and preparing new training courses. Many teachers of the Department participated in various international scientific conferences held in our country and abroad. So, in 1997, S. D. Militsin took part in the conference of the International Association of penal law (AIDP), held in the Italian city of Siracusa.

On January 27-28, 2005, an international scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Department of criminal procedure was held, in which about 100 procedural scientists and practitioners took part. The "geography" of the anniversary event was unusually wide - from Kaliningrad to Irkutsk. The conference was also attended by experts from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Based on the results of the conference, the 2-volume collection of speeches and reports of its participants was published.

On September 4, 2006, the Academic Council of USLU approved the initiative of the University (Academy) administration and the Sverdlovsk regional court to create a Department focused on differentiated teaching of judicial and legal disciplines with maximum use of judicial and legal practice. In this regard, by order of the rector of Ural State Law University (Ural State Law Academy) № 196 dated October 3, 2006, the Department of Judicial Activity was established. It is located not only in the building of Ural State Law University, but also in the Palace of Justice, with the aim of, on the one hand, to create conditions for the teaching staff and students for effective application in the educational process of judicial practice, and on the other hand, to combine the scientific potential of the department and the experience of practical activities of judges to improve the quality of justice and training of postgraduate students.

Vladimir Mairovich Bozrov, retired chairman of the Ekaterinburg garrison military court, retired judge of the highest qualification class, Honored lawyer of the Russian Federation, laureate of the Femida Award, Doctor of Law, Professor, Retired colonel of justice, was elected head of the Department.

In September 2007, the Department of Law Enforcement and Prosecutorial Supervision was transformed into the Department of Prosecutorial Activities, in connection with which the training discipline "Law Enforcement Agencies," as well as special courses on the organization of judicial activities, were transferred to the Department of Judicial Activities. In 2018, in connection with the abolition of the Department of Legal Psychology and Forensic Examinations, a number of disciplines were transferred to the Department of Judicial Activities - "Legal Psychology," "Forensic Psychiatry" and other disciplines. Thus, the field of scientific interests of the department has expanded and now the faculty together with the Regional Court is engaged in research on the problems of improving the activities of the justice bodies, the judicial and law communities, improving the quality of justice. These research areas are subject to postgraduate studies, as well as graduate qualification work of students and undergraduates.

Currently, the faculty of the department teaches the following disciplines:

· at the Institute of the Prosecutor's Office - "Law Enforcement Agencies", "Legal Psychology", "Forensic Psychiatry", "Psychology of Conflict Situations";

· at the Institute of Justice - "Law enforcement agencies", "Organization of judicial activity", "Organization of advocacy", "Judicial power in the Russian Federation", "Public service in the judiciary", "Ethics and anti-corruption standards in judicial activity", "Features of consideration of criminal cases involving minors", "Culture of judicial acts and business letter", "Procedure for preparing and processing official documents of courts of general jurisdiction", "Procedure for preparing and processing official documents in arbitration courts", "Legal psychology", "Psychology of conflict situations", "Forensic psychiatry", "Special training".

· at the Institute of Law and Business - "Law Enforcement Agencies," "Organization of Advocacy in the Provision of Legal Assistance to Business Entities", "Organization of Judicial Activities in Cases involving Business Entities", "Legal Psychology".

· at the Institute of State and International Law "Law Enforcement Agencies", "Legal Psychology."

· at the Institute of Special Educational Programs - "Law Enforcement Agencies", "Legal Psychology", "Forensic Psychiatry", "Organization of Advocacy", "Organization of Judicial Activity", "Psychology of Social and Legal Activity"."

Teachers of the Department supervise the educational and industrial practice of students, as well as research of postgraduates, applicants and undergraduates; conduct classes with students of the Institute of additional education.