DIFFERENTIATION OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR UNAUTHORIZED ABANDONMENT OF A MILITARY UNIT

Abstract

Introduction. Unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service under martial law is one of the most widespread military criminal offenses, the criminal-law response to which is directly related to ensuring military discipline and the defense capability of the state. At the same time, the current practice of criminal-law response to unauthorized abandonment of a military unit actualizes the problem of correlation between ensuring military discipline and the principle of fairness of criminal liability, since the unified legislative model of liability does not always take into account the actual heterogeneity of particular cases of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit.

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to study the theoretical foundations of differentiation of criminal liability for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit under martial law and to determine the directions for improving the current model of criminal-law response.

Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study consists of general scientific and special legal methods of cognition, including formal-legal, systemic-structural, comparative-legal, and legal modeling methods. The study uses the results of the analysis of legislative changes in the field of criminal liability for military criminal offenses, scientific approaches to the problems of differentiation of criminal liability and individualization of punishment, as well as generalized materials concerning cases of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit in one of the combat units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during October 2025.

Results. It has been established that the current model of criminal-law response to unauthorized abandonment of a military unit is characterized by the simultaneous coexistence of a tendency toward legislative unification of criminal liability and the formation of separate differentiated mechanisms of criminal-law response. It is substantiated that the strengthening of criminal liability for military criminal offenses during 2022–2023 objectively narrowed the possibilities for judicial individualization of punishment in cases concerning unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. At the same time, the introduction of a special mechanism for exemption from criminal liability in the event of voluntary return of a serviceman to the place of service effectively demonstrated legislative recognition of the heterogeneity of particular cases of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit and the criminal-law significance of the offender’s post-criminal behavior. The results of the empirical study confirmed that a significant proportion of cases of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit are associated not only with deliberate evasion of military service, but also with a complex of psychophysical, organizational, and social factors, including prolonged stay at combat positions, moral and physical exhaustion, fear of further participation in combat operations, failure to return after medical treatment, or family circumstances. It is proved that excessive unification of criminal-law response increases the risk of disproportionate criminal liability in factually different cases of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit.

Prospects. Prospects for further research are related to determining the optimal criteria for differentiation of criminal liability for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit, as well as the limits of criminal-law consideration of the post-criminal behavior of a serviceman within the mechanism of criminal-law response.