Pre-trial cooperation agreement as a basis for special procedure for criminal proceedings

The paper thoroughly discusses the application of pre-trial cooperation agreements with defendants accused of committing a crime in Russian law. Similar legal provisions are widely used and, in some countries, referred to as a plea deal. The authors provide examples of foreign legal concepts compared with the summary legal proceedings used in the national legal system and identify similar features and significant differences. The paper emphasizes the special nature of legal regulation of special criminal proceedings related to the prevalence of the principle of publicity in the national criminal proceedings system. The proceedings conducted based on the cooperation agreement are defined as an independent institution of criminal procedure and a theoretical justification is provided for the need for additional regulation of the preliminary investigation in such proceedings to ensure the implementation of the principles of legality of process at its pre-trial stages. In addition, based on the study, the authors propose making significant changes to the existing system of summary proceedings allowing the court to resolve criminal cases related to crimes threatening the most significant objects of judicial protection. The proposed amendments to the criminal procedure may significantly improve the crime prevention performance of law enforcement agencies.