MORAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF MODERN LEGAL ACTIVITY: CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL ASPECT.

Abstract

The article presents a thorough study of the moral and ethical foundations of contemporary legal practice within the framework of criminal proceedings. The relevance of the topic is driven not only by the growing public demand for justice, transparency, and integrity in criminal justice, but also by the rapid development of digital technologies, globalization, and the transformation of value orientations within the professional legal community. Under these conditions, morality, ethical conduct, and professional ethics acquire paramount importance as principles that ensure not only formal legality but also the legitimacy of law enforcement activity.The article defines morality as an internal ability of an individual to act in accordance with the principles of goodness, justice, and respect for others, while ethical conduct is seen as a concretized form of morality, manifested in behavior aligned with professional and social expectations. Professional ethics in criminal proceedings is revealed as a system of value-normative guidelines that establish the boundaries of permissible conduct for legal professionals and aim to guarantee impartiality, integrity, and respect for the dignity of every participant in the process.Special attention is given to the relationship between legal and moral norms. It is argued that these systems are not in conflict but interact to form an integrated normative-value space of legal enforcement. Examples are provided to illustrate that strict adherence to the “letter of the law” without considering its moral dimension can lead to unjust decisions or abuses of procedural rights.The study identifies key moral and ethical principles that should underlie criminal proceedings: the principle of justice as the foundation for legal evaluation of actions; the principle of good faith, which calls for responsible and sincere engagement in procedural functions; the principle of respect for human dignity as a condition for the moral legitimacy of investigative and judicial actions; and the principles of impartiality and independence as guarantees of objective decision-making in criminal procedures.A range of ethical challenges characteristic of the modern stage of criminal justice development is analyzed, including conflicts of interest, informational and public pressure, political bias, and the risks associated with the use of advanced digital technologies in evidence collection, surveillance, and analytics. The article argues that ethical evaluation of legal professionals’ conduct in such contexts is just as important as legal assessment. The issue of “ethical formalism” is also raised–where morally questionable actions remain formally legal.The article concludes that the effective functioning of the criminal justice system is impossible without the moral foundation of professional legal activity. Therefore, moral and ethical principles should not be seen as optional, but rather as a central element of legal professional identity and the integrity of criminal procedure.