Review

Personal autonomy as a system of individual rights and freedom to choose own way of life is one of the basic principles of criminal law, commonly interpreted as person's capacity to act independently and take responsibility for own actions, as well as free will and freedom of choice. European Court of Human Rights usually emphasize principle of personal autonomy to demand respect for human liberty, for example, victim rights protection even in case of uncommon behavior, avoiding forced self-incrimination of suspect, assuring individual right to defend or represent himself or herself before the court in person or through lawyer of own choice, etc. Legal guarantees of personal autonomy in the criminal process, prescribed in the chapter "Principles of criminal proceedings" of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, are indirect and, therefore, are not sufficiently effective. Also, it leaves unresolved issue of interventions in the criminal process, e.g. at public hearing, taken by autonomous agents (counteragents) such as activists, journalists, paralegals, private detectives, pressure groups, human rights defender organizations, etc. In this regard, it is proposed to amend criminal procedure law to include personal autonomy into principles of criminal proceedings and prescribe that the court or investigating judge by the application of concerned person or by own initiative makes a motivated decision to ensure respect for personal autonomy, judging as lawful or unlawful concrete practices of personal autonomy, related to criminal proceedings, also establishing lawful ways to realize rights, duties and interests for free choice of the person.

Keywords: personal autonomy, criminal procedure, criminal law, freedom of choice, free will, individuality.