The scientific legacy of Academician V. Stashis constitutes a fundamental part of Ukrainian criminal law doctrine, particularly in the sphere of defining the nature of punishment, its objectives, and the limits of humanizing repressive instruments. His concept of punishment as a necessary but limited means of state coercion, primarily aimed at crime prevention and the resocialization of the offender, remains relevant today.

The issue of humanizing criminal punishment in cases involving the transfer of a child by parents for illegal adoption becomes particularly significant in the context of the full-scale war in Ukraine.This is due both to the need to consider complex social, psychological, and economic factors that may compel parents to take such actions, and to the overall shift in criminal law from a punitive model to one that emphasizes an individualized approach to the offender. Moreover, the criminal codes of certain European countries contain specific provisions allowing for less severe punishment in cases of illegal adoption committed by the child’s parents.

In this context, the scholarly legacy of V. Stashis gains special importance. V. Stashis consistently advocated for the limited and justified application of criminal punishment, focused not so much on retribution as on achieving resocialization and preventive effects. His approach to punishment – as a socially conditioned but state-controlled instrument of influence, grounded in the principles of justice, proportionality, and humanism – remains highly relevant. In cases involving the transfer of a child by parents for illegal adoption, such a paradigm allows for a re-evaluation of the social danger of the act, taking into account the complex life circumstances of the offenders and the comparative experience of European countries.

Thus, analyzing the possibility of mitigating criminal liability in such cases in the light of V. Stashis’s ideas allows not only for the expansion of scientific understanding of this category of crimes, but also for the formulation of practical approaches to their legal assessment in accordance with modern principles of humanistic criminal law.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Andrushko A, Teoretyko-prykladni zasady zapobihannia ta protydii zlochynam proty voli, chesti ta hidnosti osoby (Vaite 2020) (in Ukrainian).

2. Verbenskyi M, Minka T, Nehodchenko D, Protydiia torhivli liudmy v Ukraini (Dniprop. derzh. un-t vnutr. sprav 2010) (in Ukrainian).

3. Lipkan V, Kushnir O, Pravovi ta orhanizatsiini zasady vzaiemodii sub’iektiv protydii torhivli liudmy (Akad. nauk vyshch. osvity Ukrainy 2013) (in Ukrainian). Edited books

4. Protydiia orhanizovanii zlochynnosti u sferi torhivli liudmy (V Borysov, N. Gutorova (red), Odissei 2005) (in Ukrainian). Theses

5. Kozak V, ‘Kryminalna vidpovidalnist za torhivliu liudmy (analiz skladu zlochynu)’ (avtoref dys kand yuryd nauk, 2003) (in Ukrainian). Websites

6. Family members linked to nearly half of child trafficking cases, new UN-backed data reveals (28 November 2017, United Nations) (accessed 20.06.2025).

7. Hartmann M, Nikkel M, ‘Familial trafficking: A crime against children’ (April 5, 2019, The Exodus Road) (accessed 20.06.2025).