Differentiation of a Criminal Procedural form as a Condition of Development of Modern Legislation

The purpose of the article is to study the current state of differentiation of a criminal procedural form as one of the conditions of legislation development. To this end, the tasks are as follows: 1) to analyze scientific periodicals devoted to the problem of definition of the concept of "procedural form" and "differentiation of procedural form"; 2) to distinguish the differentiated forms of pre-trial investigation and judicial proceedings on the basis of a systematic examination of the current criminal procedural legislation. While writing the article, a set of general scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge was used, namely: historical-legal, dialectical, formal-legal and system-structural method. The interrelated application of these methods led to the science-based conclusions and suggestions. The article presents scientific points of view regarding the interpretation of the concept of "criminal procedural form" and "differentiation of procedural form", which made it possible to state the lack of unity of their understanding. Legal understanding of the essence of criminal procedural form is not only theoretical, but also applied, because: first, it is the key to achieve the tasks of criminal proceedings; secondly, it guarantees the implementation of the principles of criminal proceedings and respect for the rights of the participants in the proceedings; third, its violation leads to the inadmissibility of evidence. In the context of the development of criminal procedural legislation differentiated forms of pre-trial investigation and judicial proceedings are of great importance. The latter also provide an additional guarantee for a particular category of persons (e.g. juveniles, persons who have committed a socially dangerous act in the state of insanity, etc.). Based on an analysis of the CPC of Ukraine, particular and special differentiated forms of pre-trial investigation and court proceedings are distinguished