Throughout his career, Academician Volodymyr Stashis conducted consistent research into issues of criminal liability for crimes against human life. His scientific work in this field is of exceptional importance to the theory of criminal law, the improvement of criminal legislation, and its practical application.

This article aims to analyse the scholar’s contribution to developing a conceptual vision of criminal offences in this category and trace the stages of forming his scientific ideas and their influence on relevant criminal liability legislation provisions.

The research demonstrates V. Stashis’ evolution in focus, from economic crimes during the preparation and defence of his doctoral dissertation, to a comprehensive approach to assessing attacks on human life, resulting from his work on the 1960 draft Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR, and subsequent commentary on relevant criminal law provisions.

The connection is traced between the researcher’s work on intentional murders under aggravating circumstances and their punishability, and his participation in the state commission that worked on the 1960 draft Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR, and in the working group of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine that prepared the 2001 draft of the current Criminal Code of Ukraine. Particular attention is paid to how he formed his position on abolishing the death penalty as an exceptional punishment. Two key factors are identified as having significantly influenced the transformation of the modern view of the death penalty: the initiative of the domestic scientific community and the position of European criminal law, enshrined in a number of regional international legal acts.

It is concluded that V. Stashis’s active creative work formed the basis for developing a methodology for investigating crimes against individuals and for creating a teaching concept about them. This, in turn, established the leading position of the relevant norms in the current Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Stashis V, Bazhanov M, Prestuplenija protiv lichnosti v UK USSR i sudebnoj praktike (Vishha shkola 1981) (in Russian).

2. Zadoia K, Osnovy yevropeiskoho kryminalnoho prava (Fenyks 2024) (in Ukrainian). Edited books

3. Borysov V, Tiutiuhin V, Demydova L (uporiad), Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Stashis. Do 85-richchia vid dnia narodzhennia ta 60-richchia naukovo-pedahohichnoi i hromadskoi diialnosti (Pravo 2010) (in Ukrainian).

4. Kanarskij C (red), Ugolovnyj Kodeks. Tekst i postatejnyj komentarij (3 izd, Gosizdat Ukrainy 1928) (in Russian).

5. Kryminalne pravo Ukrainy: Osoblyva chastyna: рidruchnyk (M Bazhanov, V Stashis, V Tatsiy (red), Yurinkom Inter 2005) (in Ukrainian).

6. Kryminalne pravo Ukrainy: Zahalna chastyna: рidruchnyk (M Bazhanov, V Stashis, V Tatsiy (red), Yurinkom Inter 2005) (in Ukrainian).

7. Kryminalnyi kodeks Ukrainy: nauk.-prakt. komentar (V Stashis, V Tatsiy (red), In Yure 2003) (in Ukrainian).

8. Tatsiy V, ‘Peredmova’, in Stashis V, Vybrani pratsi (V Tatsiy (red) Pravo 2015) (in Ukrainian).Journal articles

9. Borysov V, ‘Kryminalnyi kodeks Ukrainy 2001 roku: khroniky pidhotovky ta pryiniattia’ [2022] 2 (18) Visnyk Asotsiatsii kryminalnoho prava Ukrainy 16 https://doi. org/10.21564/2311-9640.2022.18.267491 (in Ukrainian).

10. Stashis V, ‘Otvetstvennost za umyshlennoe ubijstvo, sovershennoe v sostoyanii silnogo dushevnogo volneniya’ [1976] 1 Problemy socialisticheskoj zakonnosti 89 (in Russian).

11. Stashis V, Bazhanov M, ‘Recenziya na knigu Kuznecov A. V. Ugolovnoe pravo i lichnost’ [1978] 6 Sovetskaya yusticiya 30 (in Russian).

12. Stashis V, Danshin I, ‘Recenziya na knigu Pobegajlo E. F. Umyshlennye ubijstva i borba s nimi’ [1966] 11 Sovetskaya yusticiya 94 (in Russian).

13. Sugachev L, ‘O prestupleniyah protiv zhizni po novomu Ugolovnomu kodeksu USSR’ [1962] 16 Uchenye zapiski Harkovskogo yuridicheskogo instituta, kafedra ugolovnogo prava i processa, kafedra kriminalistiki 13 (in Russian). Conference papers

14. Borysov V, ‘Rozv’iazannia pytan vidpovidalnosti za zlochyny proty osoby v pratsiakh akademika V. V. Stashisa’, Ponomarenko Yu (red), Tvorcha spadshchyna profesora V. V. Stashisa v suchasnomu naukovomu dyskursi: Mizhnarodna naukovo-praktychna konferentsiia (Pravo 2025) 40–46 (in Ukrainian). Theses

15. Korolenko M, ‘Kvalifikatsiia i klasyfikatsiia umysnykh vbyvstv pry obtiazhuiuchykh obstavynakh’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2002) (in Ukrainian).

16. Stashis V, ‘Borba so spekulyaciej po sovetskomu ugolovnomu pravu’ (dis kand yurid nauk, 1954) 357 (in Russian). Archives

17. Materialy proiektu Kryminalnoho kodeksu Ukrainy 2001 roku. Knyha 1 (Arkhiv Naukovo- doslidnoho instytutu vyvchennia problem zlochynnosti imeni akademika V. V. Stashisa NAPrN Ukrainy, Kharkiv) 103 (in Ukrainian).