The article examines individual issues of the importance of the category of “interest”. The author came to the conclusion that interest is a necessary component of criminal procedural relations. It is interest that determines the course of the criminal process. Through the category of interest, the full picture of the process of regulating social relations in criminal proceedings is revealed; the most effective way to resolve a criminal conflict in a particular case with the least negative consequences for its participants is determined; errors in legal regulation are identified in a timely manner.